Made From Broken Parts
by Lawliet'sOneAndOnly
Summary: Jason and Leo rescued Lucy from monsters that attacked her home and killed her mother, but being prone to suicidal tendencies, she's having a much harder time adjusting than most half-bloods, especially since she doesn't posses the abilities she should from her godly parent. She finds comfort and someone to relate to in Leo, Piper and Jason, but her and Leo grow particularly close.
1. Chapter 1

**If you're reading this, that means you've read the description of the story and decided it might be interesting. Let me just say that I hope you find it to be just that. ^_^ I'll save my rambling on until the end of the chapter though, so you can get on with the story. Enjoy(:**

**Rated T for language. Possible change to M later on.**

**Lawliet'sOneAndOnly**

* * *

Chapter 1

My head was spinning, and it hurt really badly, too. There was a sharp pain near my right temple and my cheek felt warm and wet. I didn't know what was happening or where I was. Everything I looked at seemed to be tinted red. There was screaming, though, I knew that. I just couldn't tell whether it was my own. Suddenly, the ceiling seemed to be getting farther away as I slipped backwards into what felt like a warm, black embrace. The last thing I was aware of before my eyes drooped heavily shut and I drifted away from consciousness was a dark form looking down on me and gathering me into its arms.

I woke up feeling as if I were flying. The air was thin and rushed by quickly and every so often it shook me side to side, like turbulence. My first thought was that I was on the plane to Florida, like my mom and I had been planning for months and I had fell asleep and had a bad dream. If that was the case, then why wad there something cold and wet on my forehead? And why did I taste tacos? I opened my eyes to the blinding sunlight and gasped.

I _was_ flying, but in something about as far from a plane as you could get: a chariot. I was stretched out on the floor with my head wrapped in a wet cloth and propped up on my orange Naruto hoodie. Clouds drifted both above and below me as I sped through the sky propelled by something that was probably the source of the sound of massive, flapping wings. I could smell tacos, too, but I didn't see any nearby, just a silver flask by my side.

I heard voices coming from behind me as well- two male ones.

"...you didn't have to come, you know that, right? I know you're working on something right now."

"Nah, it's fine. I could use a break anyway. I've been stuck in that bunker for so long I might as well move my bed in there."

"Yeah, but thanks for coming."

"No problem. Anything to save another demigod."

I was spooked by now. These men had kidnapped me, I was sure of that. Other things I wasn't so sure of, like how we were in a flying chariot and why the hell they just referred to me as a demigod. There was only one way to find out, then. I sat up, grabbed the flask and slowly swung myself around so I was facing my kidnappers in a sitting position.

To my surprise, standing in the front of the chariot were two boys not much older than me. Standing on the left holding what looked like reins was a blonde in a purple shirt and jeans. On the right was a boy with wavy, black hair wearing a bright orange shirt and jean shorts with a tool belt wrapped around his waist. They continued talking as I stood, but I tried to focus my attention on being as silent as possible. I crept closer to the front of the chariot, raising the flask above my head as I went. I was only inches away from them when the blonde boy turned. His eyes widened when he saw me poised to strike and started to shove his hand into his pocket, but I was faster. The flask connected with his head and he slumped forward in less than 3 seconds.

The other boy stopped mid-sentence. "Jason? You okay, man?" He shook the boy's shoulder in an attempt to wake him but then saw me standing over him with the flask still raised. "Oh. That would explain it."

Just then, the chariot gave a violent pitch to the left and all three of us went tumbling onto the floor. In front of the chariot, a white, winged horse flailed about in the air with the reins, having slipped from the unconscious boy's slackened grip, whipping behind it. I stumbled to my feet but with the motion of the chariot, it was impossible to stand upright without clinging to the chariot walls. I noticed the boy had pulled a hammer from his tool belt by now, but it looked like he was having the same amount of luck as I was with remaining on his feet.

The winged horse went into a steep assent and I was holding on for dear life trying not to fall out the open back. Unfortunately, the blonde boy, Jason, I thought was his name, was knocked out and therefore, unable to hold on. As he slipped toward the edge, the other boy clawed for his hand.

"Jason, listen to me! You have to wake up!" he yelled hysteria ringing in his voice. He managed to grab hold of Jason's wrist just as his feet were sliding off the side. For a moment, relief flashed across his face. His relief was short lived, though. We were traveling too fast, and the boys hand must have been sweaty because Jason continued to slip. He was holding on with his fingertips now and in a last, desperate attempt to save his friend, he looked up at me.

"You have to help me! I can't hold onto him for much longer!" I looked at back at him, unsure of what to do. I was pretty sure helping your captors was not a good way to escape. But then again, here was this boy the same age as me trying to save his friend from a life or death situation, and the only way out he saw was me. As if he could read my thoughts, he continued, "We aren't your enemies. We just rescued you and were taking you to safety. Now just please, help me pull him back in!"

I made my decision. I wasn't just going to let someone die right in front of me when I could have saved them. I removed one hand from the side of the chariot and stretched it out as I inched along toward the dangling Jason. I was centimeters away from his fingertips when we started going down. We tumbled back to the front and the boy managed to yank Jason in with us, which seemed to be the only good thing that happened in this situation. Peeking over the top, I noticed we were heading straight for a rocky beach. The boy popped up beside me.

"We have to get the reins!" he yelled over the wind racing past our ears. I nodded, but I wasn't sure how that would be possible, considering they were a good three feet away whipping around the horse's back. The boy plopped back down against the front of the chariot and started pulling parts out of his tool belt. His hands monotonously worked over the pieces while I held onto Jason's arm, determined to keep him from falling if the horse decided to go up again. Soon the boy's hands stopped moving and he was left with a stick with a claw on the end that opened and closed whenever he pulled a trigger on the opposite end. He gripped it, turned towards the horse and took a deep breath before standing up and reaching out to grab the reins. With horror, I noticed just how close we were getting to the ground. Not much longer and we would be even with the trees, and the boy was still struggling for the reins. I closed my eyes, huddled against the side and braced myself for the crash.

I was sure we were only feet from the ground when I heard a triumphant whoop and felt our fall slowing. I risked a look over the edge to see what was happening.

The boy had grabbed both the reins and was pulling back on them, causing the winged horse to slow even though it was still very much freaking out. The ground was really close, but we were evening out, so I figured we'd be making a slightly less disastrous landing. The horse broke loose as soon as his hooves hit the sand, leaving us to a very uncomfortable 5 foot drop. We toppled end over end when we connected to the sand, which left me laying flat on my back in the sand with a certain slightly blushing, black-haired boy on top of me.

"Oh gods, I'm so sorry!" he exclaimed as he pushed himself up slightly.

"No, no. It's fine. It wasn't your fault," I said, slightly more sleepily then I had intended.

Worry quickly replaced the embarrassment on his face. "Your head is bleeding again," he said, frowning as he touched his fingers to my temple and pulled them away stained red.

It was about then that I realized just how incredibly tired I was. "Oh, I guess I am," I muttered just before everything went black.

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**So, there you have it! ****Just want to explain that the story is set in a funny time period. It takes place after Jason, Piper and Leo arrive at camp and go on their quest from _The Lost Hero_, but Percy is there too and Leo isn't working on the _Argo II._ This is mostly because I just finished _The Lost Hero _and started _The Son of Neptune._ I hope you can bear with me though, because I've been working non-stop on this and have had to use a lot of references. I already have the next two chapters done, so I'll upload those now. Thank you for reading and please tell me what you think! ^_^**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When my eyes flicked open, I found myself lying in the bed of a hospital-like room. In the bed next to me was the blonde boy, Jason, and sitting on chairs in between us were the black-haired boy and a girl I had never seen before. The girl had brown hair with braids here and there and appeared Cherokee. One of her hands was resting on Jason's and the other was on his forehead, stroking his hair back. I could tell from her concern that she cared very deeply about him.

The black-haired boy was nervously tinkering with something in his lap. It looked like he was forming different figures. I watched with interest as the metal pieces morphed from a dog to a rose to a star to a dragon with the movements of his fingertips. I thought back to him assembling the grabbing device back on the chariot and assumed he was some sort of mechanic prodigy. He saw me watching and stopped his work at a bunny. "Thank gods you're okay. I was worried I killed you with my terrible chariot skills," he said with a grin. He set the bunny gingerly on the bed next to me and I picked it up and studied it. "You can have that if you want," he said offhandedly. His expression changed to serious. "But you are okay, right?"

I sat up against the pillows. "I think. Just a little shaken up and very, very confused."

He nodded. "That's typical. By the way, I'm Leo Valdez," he gestured towards the girl, "this is Piper McLean and the boy you knocked out with the flask of nectar is Jason Grace." Piper nodded but her expression was sour. "Come on, Piper, be nice," Leo said to her. He turned towards me and whispered, "She's just upset because you KO'd her boyfriend."

"I can hear you, Leo," she looked daggers at him then sighed. "I guess I am a little upset about that, but you didn't know so I probably shouldn't be." Her expression softened. "But yeah, I'm Piper, head of the Aphrodite cabin."

"Aphrodite cabin? Am I at some sort of Greek themed summer camp?"

Leo laughed. "I guess you could call it that. You're at Camp Half-Blood, a safe place for demigods to train. You never did tell us your name, though."

I loved mythology, so I had of course read some Greek stories. Demigods were children of godly parentage, generally one parent was a god or goddess and the other was a human, but my mom wasn't a goddess and my dad had run out on my mom before I was born. He couldn't have been a god. "Lucy Pick, and I'm definitely not a demigod," I said.

"Well you have to be, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get through the borders of the camp, and you_ feel_ like a demigod, and a special one too; I can sense it," Leo explained.

"How?" I asked. I was baffled by the idea of me being anything extraordinary; I was just a girl from the Ohio countryside with anxiety, suicidal tendencies and a whole heap of other issues. There was no way I was the child of a god or goddess; it was outrageous! I felt anger rising up in me like a wave. "And would you mind explaining what the hell happened to me? And why did you take me here? What the fuck is going on?!"

I started to get up. I was really started to get sick of this crap. Hell, I didn't even know these people; knowing their names was hardly enough to consider them friends. Leo grabbed my arm, but I shook him off. I made for the door.

"You shouldn't be up yet, Lucy. You'll overdue yourself," I heard Piper say behind me, but I ignored her and made my way to the exit. When I stepped outside, I found myself in a valley rimmed by a forest, a hill and the beach we had crash landed on. There were several people out on the beach, still trying to gather what was left of the chariot. I felt a bit guilty about causing the chariot to crash, but a part of me whispered that they deserved it for taking me without warning. I decided to set out for the woods and take some time to think.

Just on the edge of the trees, I found an old log where I sat down. I checked to see if anyone was around before I buried my face in my knees and broke down. Thousands of questions and what-ifs swirled in my head. I felt as if I was drowning in a pit of darkness with no possible future ahead of me. I lifted my head and traced the things engraved on the log. There was normal graffiti like 'Jim was here' and 'Jessica and Hunter forever,' but there was also some unusual things like odd bits of poetry that sounded like prophecies and random tallies. It was the unusual things that brought back bitter memories.

Whenever I went though one of my 'moods,' I had a certain ritual. It was usually something that happened at school that would pull me under. On the bus ride home, I would put in my headphones and listen to sad music and as soon as I got home, I would grab some comfort food and head for my room with my music still blaring. First, I tried what they say you should: read a book, watch your favorite movie, write in a journal, write poetry, draw- the works. Sometimes it worked and I'd calm down, generally poetry writing helped the most, with the words flowing freely from me like a stream. Then again, sometimes it wouldn't and the stream would be blocked by a dam and I'd have no other alternative. I would grab the razor blade off of my dresser and draw the tallies on my arms. On most nights, things would stop there. I would have satisfied my need to feel conscious and I would go to bed after a hot shower and some tea. There were two nights though, when that didn't happen.

The first was a Monday in November. I had a feeling the day wouldn't go well when I slipped and fell into the mud on the way out to the bus. At school in the morning, I was confronted by Will Price and his friends again about why I hadn't had sex with him when he'd asked when I had unknowingly went to a friend's house the day her brother decided to throw a wild party, thus earning the name 'lesbian prude' along with more harassment. Turns out, I had failed my Algebra test and my so called 'friend' was spreading rumors behind my back. By lunch, I was biting back tears. In study hall, a boy kicked my books and called me an bipolar bitch and the only friend I had in the class told me to shut up and go away when I tried to vent to her. When the dismissal bell rang, I was ready to go to basketball practice and hopefully blow off some steam, but the coach yelled at me and called me stupid in the dead silent gym for forgetting a step in a play then called me out for being 'the slowest one on the team' when we ran laps.

I skipped everything and went straight to the blade, but I was going for more than just the normal feeling. Mom found me unconscious not long after and called the ambulance. I was in the hospital for the night and stayed home the rest of the week. The doctors put me on a bunch of medications that didn't help and I went back to the school to find that news of my incident had preceded me. That earned me more harassment then before. A month later, I did it again. My mom got the hint and pulled me out of public school and signed me up for an online school. They still found ways to get me, though with the internet and egging my house and the occasional run in at the store, and I had to find new ways to cope.

A tear ran down my cheek and onto the metal bunny Leo made. I hadn't realized I was still holding it.

"It hops around if you press its nose."

I looked up and scowled. Leo was standing in front of me with his hands in his pockets.

"Didn't I make it clear enough that I wanted some alone time?" I asked.

"Yeah, that was kind of obvious, but I've been known not to listen. Go on, press its nose."

I wasn't really in the mood to take orders from him, but I found myself tempted to do it anyway. As soon as the rabbit's nose was pressed into its head, its tiny legs began to wiggle and it hopped out of my hands and off into the woods. "How did you-?" I began to ask, but Leo interrupted.

"My dad's Hephaestus, the god of fire, crafts and blacksmiths. It kind of comes with the role."

"So does that mean I can do something like that?"

"That depends on who your godly parent is. If you're a daughter of Hephaestus, you can do things like that, too," he replied. "I think I might like it if you were. You'd make a really cool sister." He grinned then came and sat by me on the log. "Now would you like to talk about what's wrong?"

I almost said I didn't want to talk about it, but something stopped me. Maybe it was the tender look in his brown eyes. I decided I would tell him part of the truth. "I'm just a bit overwhelmed, that's all. I mean, I don't even remember what happened before I woke up in the chariot." Maybe I'd tell him how I had graffitied the tallies on my arm another time, but not yet.

"Do you want to know what happened?" His eyes looked so sad, I wasn't sure if I still wanted to know, but I nodded anyways. "Well to start off, we had a satyr in your public school to keep an eye out for demigods like you, but you were never suspected." He paused. "You don't show normal symptoms is what I heard. You don't have ADHD or dyslexia, do you?"

"No, is that good or bad?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think there's ever been a demigod that hasn't had them, at least not that I know of. See, the ADHD is supposed to help you in battle with your instincts and the dyslexia is because you're mind is better off processing Greek."

"I did take Greek online if that counts for anything."

He nodded. "That solves that problem, but you may have trouble in battle if you ever have to fight."

I wasn't sure about that part. Did we actually have to fight here? I had read about Greek monsters, but I was hoping those weren't the enemies he was referring to. Either way, I had never fought in my life, spare smacking Jason with the flask. I had dreamed about being in karate or taking a fencing class, but it had never happened. "I don't know. I've never tried any sort of fighting."

"I can take you to look at the weapons sometime and you can pick one you like. Maybe I could even make a custom one for you."

I smiled. He was actually pretty nice. "I would like that. So, what were you saying about the satyr at my school?"

"Oh, yeah. So you were never considered a possible demigod because you didn't show any signs. Then, you stopped coming to the school so we lost track of you completely. Just last week though, we began surveying a huge mob of monsters that were gathering in Ohio. It turns out they had finally caught your scent and were planning on attacking. We realized that a little late though. By the time we showed up ready for battle, the monsters had already began their attack. You and your mother were badly hurt. We were able to heal you with some nectar, which was the funny tasting liquid in the flask, but we couldn't give any to your mortal mother." He hesitated.

"She's dead, isn't she? And it's my fault," I said. I really hoped that it wasn't true, that his mouth would spread into another crazy grin and he would say that she was fine, that they healed her with some voodoo magic and she was resting back at the big house I had came from, but his face told me that wasn't true. Fresh tears began pouring out. I rested my head back on my knees. "It's all my fault," I whispered.

"Lucy?"

"What?" I choked out, lifting my head.

Leo grabbed me and wrapped me in a tight hug. We sat there for what felt like ages while I cried into his shoulder. It was only when I felt his shoulders shake that I realized he was crying too.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?"

Leo and I pulled apart from our hug to find a horse man studying us, and by horse man, I mean centaur. He was just another thing I could add onto my list of things I thought were just stories but apparently weren't. He had curly brown hair, a short beard and a bow and quiver strapped on his back, which looked kind of silly with his light blue _Centaur Knows Best _shirt. That was the human part of him. From the waist down, he was all horse, a white one to be exact.

"No, I was just telling Lucy about her mother," he said as he tried to wipe his eyes before the centaur noticed he had been crying.

"I see. I came here to do that, as well. Piper told me I could find you two out here," he said. "If you've already been told, I'd just like to say that I'm very sorry. Sometimes things like that happen when we can't reach demigods in time." There was a deep sadness in his face, and I got the feeling that this wasn't the first time he'd had to express his condolences to a demigod.

"If you wouldn't mind, Leo, could you show Lucy around the camp when she's ready? I think she'd rather stay with you for the time being." I blushed when he said this, but it was true. Somehow, I felt we had made a connection, and he was the only friend I had right now.

"Oh, and before I leave, I'm Chiron, the activities director." He turned and trotted back to the big house.

Leo turned back to me and I saw he was blushing as well. I didn't blame him; I wasn't too thrilled about our sob fest being interrupted by a bearded horse man either. He cleared his throat. "So, are you ready to go have a look around the camp?"

"Yeah, I guess." That was a lie. I wanted to go home to my room, to do what I would normally do in a bad situation: try to cope, fail and then get out the razor blades. I couldn't do that. I had to just shove the feelings down like I did whenever I was in a public setting. After a year of dealing with it, I had learned how to hide my feelings pretty well.

Leo stood and offered his hand to help me up. When we were on our way back to the house, he patted me on the shoulder and gave me a sad smile that said _I'll explain later._ We walked in silence until we reached the porch. "I'm gonna check on Jason, real quick. Wait here."

As soon as he had left, I slumped down against the side of the house. He was charming, I had to admit that, and he was funny, but he also had a sensitive side, which I liked a lot. He had said that there was a possibility we could be siblings and that he wouldn't mind if we were, and I didn't think I would, either. I had been raised as an only child, so I had never had a sibling to guide me. His dad was his godly parent, and I figured mine was, too. That would explain why I had never met him. There were gods other then Hephaestus, though. I could name a few: Zeus, Poseidon and Hades were the ones I could name off the top of my head. I didn't think any of them could be my dad, though. From what I remembered, their children were always very powerful, and I could do anything with lightening, water or dead people.

Leo walked back out with Piper and a very tired looking Jason behind him.

"So I hear you're the one who conked me on the head with that nectar flask," said Jason.

Uh-oh. "Yeah, I'm real-"

"Don't worry about it," he intervened. "Apparently you helped save me, too, so we're good." He gave a friendly smile.

Whew. The last thing I needed was to be on someone's bad side.

"You had him out for a while, Lucy. We should get you to the armory soon so we can see if you can use that to your advantage," remarked Piper.

I smiled. "Yeah, Leo was just saying that maybe he could make a custom weapon for me."

"What? No fair, Leo. You're playing favorites," whined Jason.

"What are you talking about, Jason? You have a weapon that works just fine," Piper said.

"Well maybe I want an extra special Leo-weapon," Jason pouted.

We all laughed, and it felt good. It felt like ages since I had been able to laugh with a group of friends. Well, maybe we weren't friends yet, but I was sure we were on the track to becoming just that. The feeling didn't last long, though. I thought of my mom again and my body felt like it was ripped in two. No. I had to stuff these feelings down. I would have plenty of time on my own to spiral down, but I wasn't going to have one of my mental breakdowns in the presence of my potential friends and risk that friendship.

"Well, to start your tour, this is the Big House," said Leo. "The infirmary, rec room and main offices are in here. The campers don't come up here often, though, so we'll show you the main part of camp."

Jason, Leo and Piper led me down to the volleyball quarts where several other campers were smacking the ball back and forth. I cringed. I hated volleyball; whenever I attempted to play it, I always seemed to injure myself or others. Next, we passed the arts and crafts building, which I liked considerably more than the volleyball quarts. Then, we walked near the lake where campers were in canoes and kayaks and odd girls with black hair and yellow eyes swam around underwater. Piper called them naiads.

They eventually came to an amphitheater where I huge bonfire was burning in the center. "They're getting ready for the campfire tonight," Jason said. "It's possible that your godly parent will claim you then."

Then the campfire couldn't come soon enough.

"When's the campfire?" I asked.

"After dinner, which shouldn't be long from now," he replied.

That made me think of just how hungry I was. I probably hadn't eaten since this morning, and I wasn't even certain I had eaten then.

Leo pointed out the climbing wall in the distance, which seemed to be on fire.

"Is it supposed to be on fire?"

"Yeah, it adds to the challenge. Well, it does for some people," said Leo.

I wondered what he meant but we kept moving so I forgot about it.

Next we saw the mess hall, followed by the cabins. There were twenty of them, one for each of the Greek gods represented at Camp Half-Blood.

"You'll be put into a cabin based on your godly parent. I'm in Cabin 10, Aphrodite; Leo's in Cabin 9, Hephaestus; and Jason's in Cabin 1, Zeus."

Looking at the cabins made me even more anxious to find out who my dad was. I needed to belong, to have a home, especially since I would probably never be returning to my old one. There were so many colors and amazing décor. Each cabin was a piece of art.

"Who are all the gods?" I asked, hoping to ring a bell of some special talent I might have.

"I'm assuming you're trying to find who your dad might be?" asked Piper.

I nodded.

"Well, there's Zeus, Poseidon, Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hades, Hypnos and Dionysus. Do you know what they all stand for?"

"Yeah, I learned some back when I took that Greek class and hearing their names must have jogged my memory."

"Any ideas on your godly parent?" Jason asked.

I thought for a moment. "No clue. I'm not really good at anything in particular. I like to read, but that's about it."

"It can be a close call, sometimes," Leo said. "Don't worry though, the gods swore they would claim all their children by 13, and you're how old now?"

"15," I said. "Is that bad?"

"If you weren't at camp, no. Now that you're here you should be claimed pretty quickly," Leo explained.

"Guess you'll have to wait until tonight," Piper said. "Let's move on. It won't be long until dinner."

We passed the arena next, followed by the armory, stables and strawberry fields. Not long after we arrived back on the porch of the Big House, a horn sounded and campers stopped what they were doing and headed to the dining pavilion.

"That mean's dinner's ready," Leo said. "I'm ready for some tacos!"

"Me too!" I agreed. We laughed.

"I'll have to make you some of mine, then," he said with a grin. "Along with your weapon," he added as an afterthought.

On the way over, Jason explained how we sat at tables according to our godly parent, just like the cabins.

"So where do I sit since I don't know?"

"Hermes, god of travelers. He could even be your dad," Jason said.

I nodded and rolled that idea around in my mind. I remembered he was also the god of thieves and communication. I wasn't very good with communication and I had never stolen anything, but I did like the idea of travel. I wasn't sure if one quality would cut it or not though.

"He wouldn't be a bad dad to have, either," a voice said. A girl with blonde hair and gray eyes fell into step with us. She oozed a confident aura that said _leader_. "I've met him a few times before. He really cares about his children." Her expression was sad when she said this, like it brought back a painful memory. "I'm Annabeth Chase, head of the Athena cabin. You must be the new camper, Lucy, what was your last name?"

"Pick," I said.

"Lucy Pick," she repeated. "Well, it's nice to meet you. Chiron said that Leo, Piper and Jason already gave you a tour, but if you have any more questions, you can ask me," she gave me a smile before she walked on to join hands with a boy with messy black hair. She seemed nice. I kept in mind that she would be a good person to talk to if I needed advice, as she seemed really wise as well.

I didn't start to freak out until we reached the dining pavilion.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

There were so many people there; I broke into a cold sweat as soon as we got close. It didn't help that everyone was looking at me. They probably heard from their friends: "Hey, did you hear there's a new girl at camp?" "Really? What's she like?" "Oh, she's just an ugly little bitch."

Thoughts like that filled my mind as we walked through the lines of tables, causing whispers to break out in our wake. I couldn't understand what was being said, but my imagination got right to work on that. They were probably talking about how much of a loser I was, with my _Pierce the Veil_ shirt and scuffed up old Converse. How my hair looked awful and my makeup was smeared. I really should have fixed that in the bathroom before coming here; I doubted they would still look decent after the chariot crash and sobbing like a little sissy. Oh, I forgot to mention that when I get nervous, I go all stiff and my breathing gets funny, which doesn't make me feel any more confident about the way I look.

We reached the Hermes table and everyone's heads turned to see who was standing near them. I looked at Leo with wide eyes and he seemed to get it. "Guys, I don't think we should leave Lucy here by herself," he said.

Piper and Jason seemed to understand that I was panicking and nodded in agreement. "Just get a cup off of the table. We'll sneak down to the Big House and I can fry up something for us to eat," Leo offered.

I sighed out of relief. God, these guys were awesome. I grabbed a cup off of the Hermes table, whose occupants didn't seem to mind and continued eating; the others did the same. We headed out the opposite way we had come so we wouldn't have to pass by everyone and attract attention. We checked to make sure Chiron and Dionysus, the camp director, weren't watching then gave ourselves a wide girth between us and the pavilion when we headed back towards the Big House.

When we got there, we sat down on the ground on the side that was out of view of everyone and gathered some stray sticks from the ground. We put the sticks in a pile and Leo kneeled down beside it and held his palm open. I gasped. Tiny orange flames danced across Leo's palm, which he then stuck to the sticks, igniting them. "H-How did you?" I stuttered.

"I'm a fire user," he shrugged, like it was no big deal. "Every now and then, there's a child of Hephaestus that's born with the ability to summon and be immune to fire."

"That's amazing!"

"Eh, you get used to it." He began pulling cooking supplies out of his tool belt.

"And I'm assuming there're children of Hephaestus that come out with magical tool belts strapped to their waists as well?" I asked sarcastically.

Everyone laughed. "No, I found this down at Bunker 9," Leo said. "It's sort of like a giant workshop. I found it abandoned and this was in it."

"That's awesome. Maybe I can come see it sometime."

"I'd like that. It gets lonely working down there all day on my own." He shot me a crooked grin, which I returned.

We sat in silence for a while, watching the flames dance and listening to the crackling and sizzling of the pan's contents. After a few minutes, Leo plopped something I wasn't sure was meat into a taco shell and held it out. "Who wants a tofu taco?" he asked.

Piper reached forward to take it and started chowing down. I hadn't known she was a vegetarian. It was then I realized we had cups but not drinks, and I was really thirsty. "Do we have anything to drink out here?" I asked.

"Just grab your cup and think about what you want to drink and it'll appear," said Jason.

I was skeptical, but I tried it anyway. _Mtn. Dew, _I thought. Sure enough, when I looked down into the cup, it was filled to the brim with the yellow, bubbling liquid. Jeez, where was this thing when my mom wouldn't run to the store to get me pop? I probably shouldn't have thought about that, though. It only ripped open the scab on my heart again and I had to tell myself to take deep breaths to keep the tears from coming out. _Tonight,_ I thought. _Then I can cry all I want and maybe make some sense of this day._

Leo was frying up hamburger meat with spices now, and it smelled delicious. I didn't know if it was just because I was hungry or if it really was good, but I couldn't wait until it was done. After what seemed like ages of staring into the flames and sipping on Mtn. Dew, Leo finally dished out three beef tacos. I tried to eat slowly, but it was so good and I was so hungry, I gobbled it down in a few bites. Leo gestured at the still half-full pan and said through his bites, "Help yourself."

I dished some more meat into a taco shell and ate this one slower this time. When the others were finished, they started talking about camp activities and I joined in, asking questions about things I was interested in and remarking on certain things. It was surreal. I felt at peace despite the days happenings. I knew my mom would have wanted me to enjoy myself and to get stronger in her honor. I promised myself I would start training hard in the morning. Who knew? Maybe I could rescue another demigod and their family once I was strong enough.

The thought of feeling that in control ignited a strong emotion inside me, and I heard I sharp intake of breath from the others. "What's wro- Oh."

Floating above me was a golden, glowing lyre. Everyone was silent as the lyre slowly faded away.

"Mind telling me what exactly is going on?" I asked slightly annoyed.

"You've been claimed. Apollo is your dad," Piper said in awe.

"Guess we'll be taking you to the archery range tomorrow," Leo remarked.

_Apollo. So you've been my missing dad all these years?_ I rolled that around a bit. He was the god of the sun, light, healing, music, poetry, archery and prophecy. Poetry I was decent at, but the others I wasn't so sure about. At least one good thing had come from this day.

"C'mon, Lucy, I'll take you to your cabin," offered Piper. "There aren't many campers in there, so it'll be fine. They're really nice, too."

I nodded and allowed her to lead me away from the circle of light cast by the fire. "If anyone asks, she was claimed on the way to the dining pavilion," she said to the boys over her shoulder. They nodded and watched us leave until we were swallowed by the darkness.

When the cabins came into sight, Piper lead me towards one that looked like an ordinary cabin like you would see at any summer camp, but when we got closer I could see it glowed brilliantly gold when what was left of the sunlight reflected off of it. We reached the door, which was marked with a '7', and pushed it open. It was dark and empty, but turning on the light, I saw it was set up like a band's dream pad. The walls were plastered with various band posters, including some heavy metal ones, which I enjoyed. Loft beds were built into the wall and the area below each of them was stuffed with a dresser, desk, mini fridge and shelf. Plush chairs and sofas occupied the center of the room. In one corner of the cabin was a mini recording studio, complete with sound editing equipment and typical rock band instruments. In the corresponding corner was a door that was cracked open enough to see a tiny bathroom with a shower.

"Whoa, what are you guys doing in here?"

We turned around to see a tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy stepping into the cabin followed by another boy and two girls.

"This is Lucy. She was just claimed by Apollo," said Piper.

The boy grinned. "Sweet! I'm Will, the head counselor of Cabin 7."

The other boy gave a little wave. "I'm Austin."

The girls both smiled. "I'm Kayla, and this is Kate."

"Right then. So these are your cabin-mates. Would you like me to stay and help you get settled in or do you want to just meet me at the campfire?" Piper asked me.

I thought for a moment. "Actually, I don't really feel like going to the campfire tonight. I think I'll just shower and go to bed. You can go on down there."

Piper nodded. "I understand. The first day is always rough. I'll talk to Chiron and see about going to get some of your stuff tomorrow."

I gave her a hug before she left. "Thank you so much for everything," I said.

"It's no problem. You would have done the same for me. I hope you sleep good."

"Thanks, you too." And with that, she left, and I was left in silence with my half siblings.

"You can take the bed over in the corner by the window," said Will pointing to the loft bed in the back right corner. He appeared to be the oldest, and I had to say, he looked like he had seen some shit.

"If you're gonna shower, you can use my shampoo and conditioner," offered Kate.

Kayla nodded in agreement. "And you can borrow some of my pajamas. There are clean towels and washcloths on the counter in there."

"Thank you guys so much," I said. Wow, there were so many awesome people at this camp.

"No problem," Kayla shrugged. "Just let me go get you those pajamas."

When I had gotten my clothes and toiletries from the girls, all of them wished me good night and left to head to the campfire. I was left alone. Right. I set to work cleaning the clothes I was wearing in the sink and drying them with a hairdryer. I put on the pajamas, folded my newly cleaned clothes and set them in my dresser and began sifting through the drawers of the desk. In the top drawer I found a notebook, pencil and pencil sharpener. Jackpot. I picked up the sharpener and started to unscrew the blade from the plastic piece with my fingernail then took it into the bathroom with me.

It felt good to stand in the hot shower with my eyes shut. If I tried hard enough, I could imagine I was at home, back when things were at least half normal. Then again, it also felt good to open my eyes and admire how much the blood running down my arms looked like the tears running down my cheeks.

* * *

**Aww, poor Lucy :( Hopefully she can calm down and read a book before bed. I really wanted to make her a child of Apollo, mainly since Apollo is freaking amazing lol. But I just wanted to thank all of you that have been reading and say pleassseee review(: maybe I'll upload _two _chapters tomorrow if you do(; (guaranteed eventual Percabeth fluff)**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I was lucky enough to have my shower interrupted by Austin banging on the door, pleading to use the toilet. I sighed and washed out the cuts on my arm before turning off the water and quickly drying off and dressing. I hadn't had as much time as I had hoped, but I guessed that I could come back during the day and shower as long as I wanted. When I opened the door, I found Austin standing outside of it bouncing from one leg to another.

"Thanks," he said with sincere gratitude in his eyes before rushing in and slamming the door. I couldn't help but smile; he couldn't have been over 10 and he was absolutely adorable, but I did wonder how the poor kid had ended up here so early. It was a bit barbaric, I couldn't help but think, to be training a 10-year-old to go into battle, but then again, it was sad that it was necessary if he was to survive into his teens, much less adulthood. This world was just messed up.

I found that my other siblings were already tucked up in their beds. Will was writing on a piece of notebook paper, Kayla was painting her nails and Kate was listening to her iPod. I really wished I had my iPod; I could have used it at a time like this. I guessed I would have to settle for reading whatever books were stocked on my shelf. I ran my fingers over the bindings and stopped at one with a familiar title: _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone._ I pulled it off the shelf and took a moment to stare at the cover and reminisce. It had always been one of my favorite books. Whenever I was having a hard time, I would dream of being swept off into another world like Harry had and leave my boring life behind. Oh, it was so painfully ironic. Funny how we dream things like that happening, and when they do, they're far less great than what we had imagined them to be.

Regardless of the cruel irony, I kept a hold of it, knowing I could find comfort between the pages. Hey, maybe I could follow Harry's example for adjusting to this whole fiasco. The only thing that could have made it better was some tea. I wondered. I opened up my mini fridge and _Bingo! _I grabbed a can of iced tea and climbed up into my new bed.

When I laid down, I felt something sharp poking into my side. I pulled up the edge of my shirt and found the blade from the pencil sharpener was still tucked into the elastic band of my pants. I had put it there to hide it from the others when I came out of the bathroom. For a moment, I studied it in the light from my bedside lamp and admired the way it caught the light. It was really such a beautiful thing to be inflicting such pain on myself with. I set it down next to my lamp, reminding myself that it was time to calm down and cracked open the tea, followed by the book, choosing to escape one fantasy world in favor of another.

I wasn't sure what time it was when the words finally started swirling on the page beyond recognition. By then, I had gone through three cans of tea and half of the book. I was reluctant to go to bed, even though I knew I'd be having another stress ball of a day in the morning. I couldn't continue reading, so I opted to turn off my light and pull up the blinds on the window near my bed and stare off into the distant ocean. I listened to the sounds of the waves lapping against the shore and of the animals in the forest and willed them to lull me off into sleep.

I dreamed about my mom.

It was a stormy night, and I was lying in my bed at home reading. I got the feeling it had been a moderately good day, and I was in a good mood. Mom was still up and about in the kitchen doing some baking so we could wake up and enjoy some chocolate chip cookies. I was getting to a good part in the book when the power went out with a faint _voooom. _For a moment, I sat blinking in the darkness. _Fuck, _I thought. _I was reading that._ There was a clatter from the kitchen. "Mom?" I called. No answer. I got out of bed and went out to check on her. When I arrived in the kitchen, the lights snapped back on. She was lying on the floor in a pool of blood. "Oh my god!" I breathed and ran to her side. That was when I saw the ghostly figure standing over her, holding the bloodstained knife. The figure grinned and flashed into focus. It was me, and it bent down next to me and breathed in my ear, "It's all your fault, Lucy. All your fault." Over and over and over it echoed around inside my head. I was spiraling out of control. The world was spinning too fast. Everything was fading and _BAM!_

I woke with a jump. I was sweating all over and tears were rushing down my face. I flicked on the lamp and took deep breaths. "It was just a dream," I whispered. "Just a dream." I sat up, gathered my knees to my chest and rocked a bit to calm down. I thought about the dream. That was it though; it was a dream and nothing more. Or was it? Maybe there was some truth behind it. Maybe it was all my fault Mom was dead. If I hadn't been there, she wouldn't have been attacked. If I would have succeeded in killing myself all those months ago, she would still be alive. At the very least, I should have been able to protect her, but I couldn't. Now she was dead and I was stuck alone at this stupid camp, probably for the rest of my life. It was my fault. I should die.

It was about then I heard a knock at the door. I know I probably shouldn't have opened it during what was clearly the middle of the night, but I was half asleep and obviously not thinking straight, so I did it anyway. When I opened the door, nobody was there. I looked around, very confused and still saw no one. I was about to close the door when I spotted something sitting neatly on the top step. I knelt down and picked it up. It was a small mechanical rabbit.

* * *

**Well, there you have it. I know it was kind of a short chapter, but I thought it would be nice to end on that note. I tried not to put much dialogue in it so we could get to know Lucy by her thoughts and preferences a little more. I'm really happy with the way she's developing into a fully formed character(: Thanks so much for reading, and review! ^_^**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I was dreaming about riding over Hogwarts on a flying motorcycle when I was suddenly yanked away by someone shaking my shoulder.

"Lucy, Lucy, c'mon, you gotta wake up."

"No, Mom. I don't have anything going on today. Let me sleep," I mumbled as I twisted around in the sheets.

"Mom? Last time I checked I wasn't your mom, Lucy."

I opened my eyes and expected to see the white walls of my tiny bedroom at home. Instead, I got a pair of grinning brown eyes peeking up at me out of a mischievous Latino face.

I stretched out my arms and gave a big yawn "Leo? What are you doing in here?" I asked.

"Waking you up," he said grinning. "It's almost time for lunch. We were getting worried."

"Ugh. Do I have to?"

"Unfortunately. You've got to start your training today. Will is anxious to get you behind a bowstring."

I sighed. "Fine, but only because you were so persistent," I said and climbed down to get my clothes out of the dresser. I wasn't really looking forward to wearing the same clothes as yesterday. I was sure people would notice, giving them another thing to criticize me about. However, I found that that wouldn't be necessary. Sitting on my desk was an orange backpack filled with stuff. There were three orange shirts like the one I had seen Leo wearing with 'Camp Half-Blood' written across the chest, two pairs of black shorts, some socks and underwear (which I kept out of sight from Leo), toiletries and several candy bars. There was a note tied to the strap:

"To Lucy

From Cabin 7, Jason, Leo and Piper with special assistance from the Stoll brothers

Welcome to Camp Half-Blood!"

"Wow. This is amazing. You guys didn't have to do this," I said. I was completely floored by the kindness of these guys, helping out a nobody like me.

Leo waved it away. "Of course we did! We all know what it's like to be new at camp. I've got special permission from Chiron to take you home to get some of your things. I was up late last night fixing the chariot, so we can take that."

"Leo, you're too awesome," I said.

"This I know. Now go on and get ready I'll just wait right here," he said as he jumped onto a couch and stretched out. I giggled and shouldered the backpack as I headed to the bathroom. I got dressed and freshened up with some deodorant and perfume. I didn't put on much makeup, just some foundation under my eyes and a thick line of eyeliner then threw my hair into a ponytail. I wasn't very impressed with my appearance, but at least I looked better than I did yesterday. I was about to open the door when I noticed how red my wrist was. Someone was going to notice it; I had to cover it up. I found that someone had retrieved my Naruto hoodie from the beach and decided to just wear that. _Good, _I thought as I looked in the mirror. _Or at least acceptable._ I knew I was no Piper, but it'd have to do.

When I went out to get my shoes, I noticed Leo was messing with something on the couch. "Whatcha got?" I asked, sitting down next to him.

"Oh, nothing." He was working on the little bunny I had found on the steps. "I'm just adjusting it so it won't run away again. Look, I made the tail wiggle!"

He held it out to me like a proud toddler might hold out an art project to their parent. I pressed the nose in and watched it wiggle its tail and move its long ears around. "It's adorable. Leo I-"

Just then, the horn sounded for lunch. Leo looked at me with concern. "You gonna be okay today?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah I should be. I was really out of sorts yesterday, and I'll have Cabin 7 to sit with today." That was a lie. In reality, I was still pretty nervous about being around all those people, but I was determined to deal with it. Leo and the others had already done so much, I didn't want to ask for anymore.

"Good," said Leo. "Last one there's a rotten egg?"

I nodded and we both bolted for the door, laughing the whole way there. Leo got there first and tagged a tall column that rimmed the edge of the pavilion. "Damn," I said as I caught up with him and leaned on his shoulder for support. "You run fast for a gear-head."

"Nah," he said. "You're just slow for a newbie."

"Hey!" I protested, but he pinched my lips shut and waved a finger at me.

"Didn't anyone tell you not to talk back to your elders?"

I pushed his arm away. "Elders? What are you talking about? We're the same age!"

"Aww, that's flattering, but I'm actually 103, better luck next time."

"You're such a sarcastic little shit," I said shaking my head.

"Huh, don't think I've ever been called that one before. Now come little noob, let's eat!"

It wasn't as bad walking through the crowd today. Maybe it was because I was more relaxed, or maybe it was because I was too focused on trying to get Leo to stop dragging me along behind him and fighting off the butterflies that came with it.

"Hey, come on! Cut it out! I can walk on my own!" I squealed.

"Nope. You need special Leo-assistance," he said firmly.

We got to the table and he plopped me down in my seat. "Here we are, safe and sound. By the way, I like your sweatshirt." And with that, he turned and went to sit with his mechanic friends.

"What was that all about?" asked Kate through mouthfuls of vegetable soup.

"I have no idea," I said shaking my head.

"Looks like someone had too much caffeine this morning," observed Will.

I nodded in agreement as a nymph brought me a salad with raspberries and I willed some warm green tea into my cup. I was glad he had done it though. It was a good start to my day.

"Anyway," he continued, "how's our sleeping beauty?" He gave me a pat on the back.

"Sleepy," I said with a yawn.

"Yeah, I noticed. We tried to wake you this morning, but you got mad and started swatting at us, so we just left you go. Chiron didn't want you to get too behind though, so he sent Captain Caffeine to get you up. Rough first night then?"

"Yeah, you could say that." I thought about my dream and Leo leaving the rabbit on the step at the precise moment I needed it most. "Tossed and turned a lot," I lied.

"That's understandable," Will said. "Strange place and a strange bed. Lots of campers have insomnia the first few nights. Just tell us if there's anything that'll make you more comfortable."

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to thank you for the gift bag. I really appreciate it."

"It was nothing," said Kayla. "Piper came up with the idea and we just contributed to paying the Stoll brothers to, uh, locate the stuff."

I got the feeling that by 'locate' they meant steal, which I found ironic since the brothers' last name was 'Stoll.' I was done with my salad now, and was absently sipping on tea when Piper, Jason and Leo came over to get me.

"Ready to try out some weapons?" Jason asked.

"You bet," I replied. I really was excited about the chance to find something I could possibly. excel at. I got up and said goodbye to my cabin mates and we headed down to the armory.

"We'll try out a bow and arrow first. Every child of Apollo is good with them, so it makes sense that you'd be too," said Piper.

"Yeah, that sounds good," I agreed. I was pretty excited to try my hand at shooting. I had always loved characters like Katniss Everdeen, Hawkeye and Merida that could effortlessly shoot the tiniest target from far away.

In the armory, some of Leo's siblings were working over hot coals with a bronze metal and hammers. "It's Celestial bronze," said Leo when he saw me looking curiously at the strange metal. "It's extremely effective against monsters, but it's harmless to regular mortals."

For some reason, my palms itched at the thought of molding the Celestial bronze, but I kept my mouth shut. I doubted that was a normal feeling for Apollo's children. Along the back wall hung various weapons of all sorts, newly foraged and polished for battle. I pulled a black bow and quiver off their hooks and we headed down to the archery range.

I fired the first arrow and _foosh! _It rushed right past the target. I notched the next and it did the same, along with the next one and all the ones after that. My cheeks felt hot. I hoped no one else had seen that.

"Um, maybe archery isn't my thing," I proposed.

The others murmured in agreement. "We could try a sword next," offered Jason.

The sword felt much better. I felt more powerful that I had with a bow. There was just one problem: I couldn't find one that fit me. All of the ones at the forge were either too heavy or too light. Leo promised that he would take me to Bunker 9 to make one when we got back from getting my stuff from home. I thanked them all and went back to my cabin to get ready before we left.

I was feeling a little mixed up from the archery range experience. Piper had said every other child of my dad was good at archery, then why wasn't I? Leo and all his brothers and sisters were good at mechanic stuff. Piper and her siblings were all gorgeous. Jason, well he didn't have any siblings from what I had observed, and I wasn't quite sure what special abilities he had, but I was sure he had them. I decided to clear my thoughts and do some poetry writing. I still inherited that from my dad, right? I pulled the notebook and pencil from my desk and sat on the couch to write.

Nothing came flowing out.

Did I have writer's block? No, I had never had it before, and I knew what I needed to write about. Then why were the words stuck? Why did I have to screw everything up? Why couldn't I be good at anything? My emotions were being clogged up inside me. I stared down at the paper out of frustration and had a sinking feeling in my gut that I could never write again.

* * *

**Ta da! In order to make up for the shorter chapter I posted early, I decided that you guys deserved another! Thank you all for the overwhelming number of views. I swear I'll fit some Percabeth in here eventually, you just have to be patient cause I'm waiting for the _perfect _moment.(; *insert evil laughter* Eh hem, goodbye until tomorrow, and don't forget to tell me your theories for what will happen (A.K.A., please review) **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Of course Leo had to be the one to find me. I was sobbing and shaking on the floor in front of the shrine to Apollo in one corner of the room. I had crawled over there out of desperation when I had become fed up with yelling angry words at the paper. I opted to direct them at my dad instead.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I shouted at the cold statue. "I'm your daughter; I thought you were supposed to be here for me, not rip everything away from me!" Somehow I knew it was my dad that had done this. If I had possessed any talent in archery before, I didn't know, but I did know that I could write, and it had been the one thing I was good at. Not to mention he ran out on us. If he hadn't, maybe he could have protected Mom. "What's next? Are you going to take my hearing away so I can't even appreciate music? Do you really hate me that much? I know I'm such an embarrassment of a daughter, right? I'm just an ugly, suicidal bitch." I rested my head on my arms atop the shrine and cried. I kept sending silent prayers, some pleading, some not so nice.

After some time, I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked up and saw an older boy looking down at me. "W-Who are y-you?" I managed to get out through sobs.

"I would be Apollo," he said, flashing a brilliant smile. "Sorry, I probably don't look too fatherly right now, just let me change."

I watched in amazement as he aged from 18 to a man in his 40's before my eyes.

"Better?" he asked.

I nodded, but I was scared. I had probably upset him with some of the stuff I had said and he came here to vaporize me. "Look, I'm really sorry about some of the stuff I said. I didn't mean to of-"

He cut me off. "No need to apologize, I just came here to offer a little advice. I can't stay long though, or Zeusie's gonna get angry."

Thunder rumbled overhead.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Just give me some privacy with my daughter, why don't ya?" he rolled his eyes like, _Can you believe him?_

I managed a weak smile.

Apollo cleared his throat. "Anyways, I needed to tell you something. Some of the gods, I can't say which, have, ah, interfered. You're not permitted to use any of the abilities normally granted to a child of Apollo, and I'm supposed to tell you that it'll be for the better in the end, so don't worry. That's all I can tell you for now though. "

"I don't suppose you can explain why."

"Unfortunately, no, but I can give you this." He helped me up and pulled me into a hug. "It'll be okay, sweetie, I promise."

I broke into fresh sobs. "You were never there for us. You never visited."

"I was always there, I'm just that cool of a dad that you could never physically see me, but I was there."

"Then why didn't you save Mom? She's gone now."

"I wish I could have and trust me, I would have, but the gods are forbidden to interfere directly in their children's lives, and I already broke that rule once." My dad was slowly fading away now.

"When?"

"Who do you think healed you when you were so close to a death you had inflicted on yourself?"

And with that, he was gone, and I was left clutching nothing but empty air before I fell to the floor.

Soon after that, Leo opened the door and saw me lying there. "Lucy? Oh gods, Lucy, are you okay?"

I gave a stiff nod in reply.

"No, you're not. Come here." He held me to his chest and rocked me back and forth. I know I should have been embarrassed that he was holding me like a baby, but I enjoyed it. I could hear the beating of his heart and the sound of his breathing and every now and then, my stomach would do little flip-flops, reminding me that I was still very much alive. Eventually, I stopped shaking and a question formed in my head.

"You never did tell me why you were crying out on the log yesterday."

"Oh yeah, I guess you're right." I could feel his chest vibrating when he spoke. "Um, let's go sit on the couch. You can talk about why you're crying first if you want to." I nodded. I actually wanted to talk to somebody about this. He set me on my feet and we walked to a couch. I sat facing him with my legs folded.

"My dad visited me," I said bluntly.

"Really? That's good isn't it?" Leo asked.

"I don't know. Good and bad. I was upset, so I tried writing, but I just couldn't get the words out. Somehow, I knew it was my dad that had taken it and any talent I might have had for archery; I asked him why. Eventually, he showed up and said that the gods had interfered, and that I wasn't allowed to use any abilities normally granted to a child of Apollo but that it would be for the better in the end."

"But he didn't tell you why?"

"No. He said that Zeus forbid him," I said pursing my lips.

"Must be important stuff, then."

"Apparently. That's really it though. Then he just disappeared." I chose to leave out the part where he had saved me from my own suicide; it was yet another story to be told another day.

We sat in silence for a moment. "I killed my mom," he said suddenly.

"What?" I said taken aback.

"You wanted to know why I was crying too. That's why." He went on to say how the dirt lady had appeared to him when he was little and Leo had accidentally set the building on fire with his pyrokinesis with his mom was trapped inside.

"Leo, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's not your fault I haven't gotten over something that happened years ago," he said with a sad smile.

"Leo, it's something that takes time. You may never get over it, just like I may never get over my Mom. It wasn't your fault. You didn't choose to be born this way."

"If you're gonna say that to me, then you better believe it about yourself because you're right: we didn't choose to be demigods and it's not our fault that crazy shit happens to us sometimes. But just so you know, if we hadn't been demigods, I don't think I'd ever be able to find another awesome girl like you." He looked me in the eyes and my heart fluttered. I wrapped him in a big hug.

"And I would have never found a crazy gear head like you," I said into his shoulder.

He kissed the top of my head. "Come on; let's go get your stuff."

* * *

**Okay, it's another short one, I know :/ I don't have internet again until later this evening, so I'll work on some stuff today and hopefully post it then. Thank you to those who have continued reading this, even though it's starting to get lengthy, but I already know what's gonna happen in the end. :D ok then, bye for now, please tell me what you think!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I wasn't too thrilled about getting back in the chariot, but I didn't have much of a choice if I wanted to get my things. Leo assured me that the pegasus that we were taking this time wouldn't freak out. It was large and black, and before we took off, the black haired boy that Annabeth had been holding hands with came and talked to it.

"What's he doing?" I whispered to Leo.

"He can kind of talk to horses. It comes with being Poseidon's kid," he answered me. Great, here was further proof that everyone had inherited special abilities but me.

The flight seemed to drag on forever. When we crossed into Pennsylvania, Leo started talking about tools and mechanisms and cooling systems, and I have to admit, it perked my interest. Some things I would know enough about to hold a discussion with him, and his eyes would light up and he'd smile and look like a child on Christmas. Then he'd keep on going until he'd lose me again. Eventually, we fell into silence once more and just enjoyed being together.

When the hills of Ohio began rolling by, Leo put us down in a clearing in the woods outside of my house. I told the pegasus that I would bring him back an apple if he was good and he bobbed his head in anticipation. We set off down the trail that I already knew by heart and before long we came out behind my house.

The back door was busted down and wrapped up with police tape, but no one appeared to be there at the time. On the inside, various claw marks decorated the walls and furniture. As we closed in on my room, glass tinkled and crunched underfoot. The whole scene looked like a tornado had gone through. We found that my room was the only place untouched. All of my posters still hung on the walls: Memphis May Fire, My Chemical Romance, Pierce the Veil, Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note.

"Wow, Lucy. I didn't know you had such good taste," Leo remarked as he spun around and took it all in.

"You're actually the first person who's told me that," I said, pulling a bag from my closet. "Most people just assume I'm goth."

"You can't have met very many nice people then," he said and began pulling CDs off my shelf to study them.

"Exactly. Could you pack those for me?" I asked pointing at the CDs.

He nodded and worked on that while I packed the rest of my stuff. I checked to make sure I had everything I needed: clothes, CDs, iPod, ear buds, charger and toiletries. "Okay, I think I have everything then," I said and looked around my room for the last time.

"Wait. Do you mind if we take the posters? You could hang them in your cabin or even Bunker 9 if that's okay."

"That's actually a good idea," I said. We rolled them up and Leo stuffed them into his tool belt. After that, I showed Leo to the kitchen so we could get the black horse some apples. We walked through the doorway and I caught my breath. The floor of the kitchen was splattered with dried blood. The cupboards were all open and their contents spilled out over the floor with their packages torn to shreds. In the middle of it all was the tape outline of a person lying sprawled on the floor.

Leo swore. "I forgot about this. Lucy, come on, we'll stop and get him an apple somewhere else." He tried to pull me away, but I stayed put. It was like I couldn't look away. My eyes welled over with tears.

"I'm so sorry, Mom," I whispered. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen."

Leo wrapped his arm around my waist and this time, I went with him. I felt numb, like my heart had been ripped out of me. There was so much blood. My mom had endured all of that pain and agony because of me. It was such a horrible way to go. I didn't even notice that we had taken off again until we touched down on the outskirts of town. Leo took his arm out from around my waist and instead laced his fingers into mine. "How about we enjoy this time away from camp and have an evening out on the town?"

I nodded. Was he asking me out on a date? I wasn't sure, but it seemed a little odd since I had barely known him two days. Still, I felt like we had connected on a deep level in that short amount of time. I decided I could be honest with him. "Can I at least change before my first date?" I asked.

"First date? You're saying that a pretty girl like you has never been on a date before?" he sounded genuinely surprised.

"Nope. I really don't get out that much."

"Well if that's the case, you can change if you want; I don't really think you need to though. We'll stop at a gas station." He walked over and unhooked the pegasus. "Go ahead and fly around, Blackjack. Just meet us back here when we whistle." The horse whinnied and took off into the sky. We watched as he galloped off into the clouds then started our trek to the nearest gas station.

I have to confess that I was really excited, but I was also nervous. I wondered if Leo saw me as more than a friend, and if I felt that way, too. I couldn't help but imagine the scenario in my head-of us being in a relationship, that is. What if I messed up and he never wanted to talk to me again? Heck, I didn't have the slightest idea about dating. Leo was charming; I was sure he had been on loads of dates before with girls prettier and more interesting than me.

Leo must have sensed I was nervous, because he squeezed my hand. "If it makes you feel any better, this is my first date to."

"Great, now I feel double the need not to mess anything up."

"Oh come on. This is supposed to be a fun, no-pressure date! Just two friends hanging out, right?"

I smiled. "Yeah, let's just enjoy ourselves." Whew, I didn't have to worry about being 'ladylike' then. No more pressure, right? Then why did I feel like I had to impress him?

At the gas station, I headed to the bathroom with my backpack and Leo, of course, headed to the snacks. I decided to wear something simple: a plain blue shirt with black jean shorts and high top Converse. I briskly ran my hair through with a brush and spritzed myself with some perfume. When I was done, I found Leo sitting on the sidewalk with a newspaper and a package of Twizzlers. I went over and sat next to him.

"So, where are we going then?"

He pointed at a red, white and blue printed advertisement. "It says here that the Independence Day fireworks are tonight at the park," he managed to say with a half-eaten Twizzler between his teeth. "Interested?"

"Yeah, it's been ages since I've watched the fireworks. It sounds like fun."

He grinned. "Ok, I'll go get directions from the clerk, wait here." I watched him walk away, looking like a total ladies' man with his white shirt, suspenders and black jeans getup. I still couldn't believe that it was his first date. Oh well, I wouldn't have wanted to have mine with anybody else.

There weren't as many people at the park as I thought there would be, which was nice. Several merchants were set up along the sidewalks selling sparklers, festive hats and food. Leo stopped at one and got us a package of giant sparklers and a large order of French fries. The man asked if Leo needed a lighter for lighting the sparklers, but he declined and we both laughed as soon as we were out of earshot. We found the perfect place to watch up on a hill and out of the way of the other people and sat down on a tarp Leo pulled from his tool belt.

"Sorry I couldn't get a blanket," he apologized. "I can only summon things you would find in a typical workshop, and apparently blankets aren't on that list."

"Oh, but you can get supplies for tacos?" I said sarcastically.

He shrugged. "I guess most mechanics like tacos."

"Is that right?" I said. I found we were leaning closer to each other.

"Yeah, I can also summon breath mints." We were getting even closer now.

"And what would a mechanic want with those?" I could feel his warm breath on my face.

"Just in case he wanted to kiss his pretty lady friend, I suppose," Our lips met, and I felt the chemistry explode more powerful than any firework. I gripped his arm and felt all of my stress momentarily melt away. I don't know how long we sat like that, but after awhile, I felt Leo tensing up. He pulled away with a surprised look on his face.

"What?" I said, worried I had done something wrong.

"Lucy, I think you should look at your hand." I lifted it up and gasped. In my palm danced a tiny orange flame.

* * *

**Ooo, plot twist! Anyway, thank you all for the 300+ hits and a special thanks to those that have reviewed. ^_^ I really value knowing what you think and if you have any suggestions for what you think should happen, feel free to let me know! I have internet all day tomorrow (technically today since its 12:30 on the 4th), so hopefully I'll get at least two chapters up! Until the next chapter!(:**

**Lawliet'sOneAndOnly**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Leo, what am I supposed to do?" I asked shakily. The flame in my palm was spreading and steadily growing taller by the second. For a moment, Leo just gaped open-mouthed from me to the flame. "Leo, please help." I was getting hysterical. Leo shook himself out of it, yet he still seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Um, well, try this." He held his hands out with the palms facing up and a small flame flickered to life in each of them. He then closed his hands, choking out the flames enclosed in them. I tried, but the flames only spread out so that my fist was engulfed in flames.

"Shit," I heard Leo mutter under his breath.

"Leo?"

"Yeah, I know I'm working on it, give me a second. Um, can you try to will it out? Like with the cups at camp, except with fire." I tried. I concentrated as hard as I could on opening my eyes and not seeing the tongues of fire licking around my hand, but when I opened my eyes, they were still there. Leo grabbed both of my hands, and in a last attempt to rid me of the flames, closed his eyes and slowly absorbed them into his own palm. We sat in the growing darkness with our hands still joined.

"What was that?" I whimpered.

"Pyrokinesis, apparently. I know I sometimes lose control of the fire when I get excited, but you're not a Hephaestus child, so I don't know where that came from."

Something clicked inside my head. "Was that what Apollo was talking about?"

Leo pondered the idea for a moment. "Yeah, it could be, but why?"

"I have no idea, but he said it was supposed to be 'for the better in the end.'"

"There's no telling what the gods are up to. I guess we'll just have to wing it."

I nodded and we sat in the silence, listening to the crickets. "I guess I'm not alone, now," Leo finally said.

"Leo, as long as I'm around, I promise you'll never be alone," I whispered.

"Thank you, Lucy, and I'll promise the same to you." He grinned and rested his forehead on mine. My hands sparked. "He looked down at them and frowned. "We should do some work on that. It might be kind of bad if that happened in public and you started a fire."

The idea startled me. I was used to having meltdowns, but the thought that one could potentially endanger the lives of others made me feel a little sick. Leo started to explain how he imagined the fire spreading out from his heart and traversing through his veins leading to a specific destination. He described the sensation as 'clicking on a lighter, then releasing it when you're done.' After several failed attempts, including managing nothing more than a feeble spark and completely engulfing myself in flames and accidentally lighting the entire box of sparklers, I finally succeeded in creating a good sized, controlled flame in my palm then extinguishing it at will.

"Now that we've got that under control," Leo said with a crooked smile, "I wouldn't mind if we picked up where we left off." Our lips met once more, this time with more confidence. I have to say, he was a good kisser, but my mind still wandered to other things, like my new found pyrokinesis and its sudden appearance. I knew it was what the gods had planned, but that didn't mean I understood it, or accepted it. Sure, it was kind of cool, but I also knew that it came with consequences. Leo had had his entire life to learn to control this 'gift'; I couldn't have had more than an hour. It was starting to scare me more and more by the second, seconds I realized were being spent sucking face. 'Just two friends hanging out' my ass. _Shut up, _I told my thoughts. Here was a moment I had been dreaming about my entire life and I was spending it lost in Lucy Land. With that finality, I turned off my mind and melted away into the place where fireworks echoed off the trees and two broken people could comfort each other.

The ride home was spent figuring out how we were going to explain our lateness to Chiron since the truth was obviously out of the question. After sifting through some bogus suggestions (we ran into Benedict Cumberbatch, the line at McDonald's was ridiculously long, we were recruited for a modeling agency), we decided that there had been investigators at the house when we arrived and we had to wait until they left to go in. The cover story was good enough, but I wasn't sure if it would mask the blush that rose hot in my cheeks whenever Leo and I made eye contact.

After we had settled that matter, I put on some music on my iPod and we rocked out in the dark above the clouds. Blackjack didn't seem to appreciate the noise or the occasional jerk on the reins when Leo would break out in spontaneous air guitar. I don't think he was a happy camper to start, probably because we never brought him an apple. About an hour after that, we touched down on the beach, thankfully in one piece this time. The campers were just leaving the campfire and heading back to their cabins with heavy eyes and sleepy yawns. Annabeth's apparent boyfriend, whose name I still didn't know, and Chiron spotted us and waded to the crowd to meet us.

The boy took hold of Blackjack and spoke to him before leading him off to the stables. When he had left, Chiron looked at us with a slightly annoyed expression on his face.

"What in Hades took you so long?" he asked. "You should have been back hours ago!"

Uh oh, I guess we're in trouble. I opened my mouth to explain, but Leo beat me to it with our predetermined cover story.

"Sorry about that, sir. When we got to the house, there were mortal police there, so we had to wait in the woods until they left. Again, we're sorry." Leo put on his best 'punished little kid' face and hung his head.

"Very well," Chiron said. Apparently he took the bait. "Next time I would appreciate an Iris message. You better be off to bed, it's getting late. You can get some leftover from the kitchen if you're hungry." He turned and trotted off to the Big House.

"That went well," I said.

"No kidding," said a voice to our right. It was Annabeth's boyfriend, back from the stables. "Blackjack was going on and on about how you promised him an apple, but never got him one, even after you were gone in town for 3 hours." I felt my face getting hot. I really hoped Blackjack hadn't been flying overhead during our little make out session. I laughed nervously. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not gonna tell Chiron. I've snuck out of camp before, and I know how boring it can get being cooped up here all summer." He smiled reassuringly.

"I don't think you two have met yet," said Leo.

"Yeah, me neither. I'm Percy Jackson. You must be Lucy Pick."

I nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"Same. I've got to go. Annabeth's waiting for me. I'll see you around." He turned and jogged off towards the cabins.

"Use protection!" Leo yelled. Percy flipped him off, causing us both to laugh. "We better get off to bed, then. I'm beat," he managed through a gigantic yawn.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I wasn't really tired, but I figured I should shower. Leo walked me back to my cabin and kissed my forehead.

"Good night, Fire Girl," he whispered.

"Good night, Gear Head," I replied.

When I got inside, I felt a strange longing in me, like I was suddenly lonely without Leo. I pushed it aside and nearly walked right into Kayla and Kate. They looked like a couple of crazy fangirls, so I figured this wasn't going to be good.

"Are you two dating?" asked Kayla.

"Yeah, you would make such a cute couple!" squealed Kate.

"No, we're not. We're just good friends and he wished me goodnight, that's all." It came out slightly more irritated than I'd intended.

"Really? With kisses on the forehead and pet names?" accused Kate.

"You can tell us," Kayla put in.

I exhaled. "There's nothing going on between us. Now could I please take a shower?" I pushed past them.

"Jeez, someone's in a grumpy mood," I heard Kayla whisper.

"Someone needs to get her a tampon," Kate agreed.

Shit, I'd done it again. I hated it when I came off as rude when I didn't mean to. Now they hated me. Now they were gonna talk crap about me. My night was ruined now. I kept taking deep breaths to hold the tears back. I got my pajamas and shower supplies out of my bag and sat waiting for Will and Austin to finish brushing their teeth. I tried to listen to music to keep everything down, but it only seemed to make things worse.

When the door finally opened, I rushed in. I locked the door behind me then sunk down to the floor. It was just like it had been at home. Whenever something good actually happened to me, something bad happened to completely spoil it. Things were going downhill by the minute here. It was nice to turn on my iPod and listen to my favorite song as the hot water flowed over me. The only downside was I went to bed with my wrists hurting like hell.

* * *

**I'm so sorry about how long it took to post this chapter! Please don't hate me! I'll try to update faster, but I've got a cosplay project due this Wednesday, so I'm not sure how often I can update. I promise to try my best! With that aside, I'd still love to hear what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

**Leo**

_Gods she's amazing, _Leo thought to himself as he walked away from the Apollo cabin. He was still buzzing from the day's events with his thoughts running at a million miles per hour. He still didn't know exactly what happened, but he liked it. He could still taste her lips on his own and feel the warmth on his arm where she would have scorched him had he not been immune to fire. He decided to do what he always did when he needed to think about things: he headed to Bunker 9.

There wasn't anything that needed working on, so he decided it was about time to start a new project, and he knew just what to make. He gathered some parts and set to work. It was hard to concentrate though when his thoughts kept wandering. Eventually, he gave up, wiped his face with his hands and slumped down against the wall.

Leo had never thought he would get so hyped up over his first kiss, but then again, he never thought it would be so breathtakingly amazing. Then they had discovered she was a fire user. He was apprehensive about that. It felt reassuring to know he wasn't the only one, but it was such a curse as well. His mother was dead because of it. His relatives wouldn't take him in because of it. He nearly caused himself and his friends to fall to their deaths because of it. Leo had a sudden vision of what sex between two fire users would be like, but he quickly shook it out of his head. _Bad Leo, _he thought. _We kissed, but that doesn't mean I like her that way, right? We're just friends. Besides, I've barely known her two days._

Leo faintly remembered a TV show a little girl had been watching at a foster home he stayed at. He thought it was called iCarly. Two of the characters, a boy and an obnoxious blonde girl, had been friends, nothing more, but had kissed just because neither of them had ever been kissed before. If it had happened to them, it could happen with him and Lucy. Sure, she was beautiful and kind, but Piper was that way too, and they were just friends. _But you and Lucy have so much in common, and you and Piper never kissed, _said a small voice in Leo's head.

No. Leo refused to accept that they were more than friends. Every single time he fell in love with a girl, he just got himself torn to shreds again. It wasn't necessarily being single that hurt Leo, it was the fact that everyone around him was pairing up, and when he wanted to hang out with anyone, they blew him off to go on a date. Then sometimes, he would try to talk to Piper or Jason and they would scold him and shoo him off so they could go make out or whatever they did when he wasn't around. That's what upset him. That's what made him feel like a worthless piece of shit.

Perhaps the thing that had startled Leo most that night was what he discovered she had done. He had noticed it when he absorbed her fire into his palms: about a dozen red cuts slashed across her wrists. They weren't scratches; they were too thin and were distributed in even intervals. She had been cutting herself, he was sure of it. He hadn't said anything because he knew how much it would upset her if he brought it up; Leo knew that from personal experience.

Leo pushed up his sleeves and inspected his own wrists. The wounds were fading now, becoming nothing more that ghostly tallies. He thought back to the last time it had happened. Two weeks ago, that was it. That bitch Drew from the Aphrodite cabin had seen his previous cuts and said some choice words. She may have gotten her eyebrows singed off, but it still hurt, and he knew she would just go and tell the entire camp. He didn't want to be forced into therapy, not again. The last time had been after a foster parent had seen them and immediately sent him to a live-in rehab facility. It had taken a few tries to get out of that place. He decided he should talk to Lucy about it, but only when the time was right and when he had thought of the right way to word things.

The clock on the wall read 1:30. Leo was tired, but he didn't want to sleep. He wanted to talk to someone who wouldn't judge him. _Festus, _he thought. The dragon may not have been whole or even working, but somehow, Leo knew he was still listening. What was left of the mechanical dragon was sitting on a low shelf on the other side of the bunker. Leo walked over with a cloth and began polishing the metal head. "Hey, buddy," he said. "It's been a while. So I wanted to talk to you about something." Leo went on talking to the silent head about the night. When he was done, he felt a lot better. "Thanks, Festus, I needed that." He gave the dragon a final pat and walked back to the other side of the bunker.

Leo had remembered Lucy's posters were still tucked in his tool belt. He wasn't sure if she wanted any of them to hang by her bed, so he just set them on his workbench. He unfurled one of them. It was the Fullmetal Alchemist one, and it was autographed by most of the voice actors. _ColossalCon _it said along the bottom. "So she goes to conventions too. Gods, she just gets more awesome by the minute," Leo said to himself with a smile. He had always wanted to go to a convention but had never had the means nor the money. Maybe he could build some stuff to sell. He imagined going there with Lucy, maybe even cosplaying together. The thought made his heart flutter with anticipation. He remembered when he had stuck into the Big House to use the protected internet there so he could look at the conventions nearby and dream. He rolled the poster back up and set it with the others.

Leo felt his thoughts had calmed down enough to sleep now. He shut off the lights of the bunker and headed back to his cabin, being careful not to get caught. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but he did dream. He dreamt of Lucy. They watched shooting stars on the beach. They had a picnic on Zeus' Fist. They went to an anime convention dressed as Alphonse and Mai Chang. And through the whole dream, his subconscious couldn't help but think about how he ended up falling in love with every pretty girl he saw.

* * *

**Hey again! So I thought it would be fun to do a chapter that focused on Leo, and since this marks the 10th chapter and 500+ hits, I decided to do it as a treat! Thank you so much for everything, readers. I don't think I would have kept up with the story this long without your support!**

**Lawliet'sOneAndOnly**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I woke up earlier than usual the next day, but I felt surprisingly well rested. I skipped out of breakfast at the dining pavilion once again, partially because I didn't feel like getting dressed just yet and partially because of the incident with Kate and Kayla the night before. I instead chose a breakfast of a pizza Hot Pocket I found in my mini fridge and heated in the cabin's microwave, a candy bar from my 'welcome to camp' package and a can of tea. I sat with my meal on the couch and ate at the coffee table while _Of Mice and Men_ blasted over the stereo. After I was finished, I threw my hair up in a high bun and curled up on a recliner with a blanket and my copy of _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone._

Around 10:30 or so, there was a knock at the door, and Piper and Annabeth walked in and sat on the couch. I stuck the bookmark in my book and set it aside. "Hey, guys," I said.

"You're up early," said Piper.

"Yeah, we thought you were still sleeping. We missed you at breakfast," said Annabeth.

"I dined in this morning," I said, pointing to the remnants of my food on the coffee table.

"That's a real healthy meal," laughed Piper. "Anyway," she slung a drawstring bag off of her back, "we thought we could just hang out this morning. We've hardly gotten to see you."

My date with Leo flashed through my mind. "Yeah, I've been so busy."

"Exactly, so we brought some stuff to do." Annabeth pulled out a nail kit, a deck of cards, a portable DVD player and a DVD copy of Disney's _Hercules_. "I thought the movie would be funny in light of things," she said with a smile.

We put the movie on and started doing nails. Piper complained a bit about not wanting hers done, so we eventually convinced her to just let us file and buff them then paint a clear coat over top. I did Annabeth's purple and blue and stuck a decal of an owl on her purple index finger and a wave on her blue one. "Might not want to show that to Percy," I told her. "It might make him get big headed."

"I don't think that would be possible, considering his brain is nothing but seaweed," she said, making us all laugh.

Piper painted mine with alternating black and pink then we focused our attention on the movie. I had liked it even before I came to Camp Half-Blood, but now it was hysterical. The portrayal of the gods was really funny considering I was sitting with two people who had actually met many of them. Every now and then, one of them would chime in and say, "That is so true," or "They would never do that." Annabeth liked to correct the movie a lot too, "That's not even close to what actually happened!" I heard her say often. Still, I think we all enjoyed it.

By the time it was over, it was past lunch, so I heated up some more Hot Pockets while Piper and Annabeth set up a game of old maid. When our 'girl time' was over, I felt refreshed and ready to tackle the rest of the day. I knew them both a lot better too, and I decided that Leo wasn't the only one I could talk to about certain things. I felt like I should tell them about the previous night; maybe it'd help me sort my feelings out. I took a deep breath.

"Guys, I have to tell you something," I started. They both looked up from what they were doing, causing me to look down at the ground instead. "Um, me and Leo may have sorta kissed yesterday," I continued quietly.

"No way!" Piper exclaimed. "That's great!"

Annabeth looked pretty excited too. "Yeah, that's awesome! What happened?"

For some reason, I didn't feel angry about Annabeth asking like I had with Kate and Kayla. Probably because they had just walked straight up to me and demanded to know what was going on. Piper and Annabeth just sounded like two old friends asking what had happened when I talked to my crush. I went ahead and told them, including the part about my pyrokinesis and what my dad had said, which Annabeth looked puzzled about.

"That's strange," she said. "I've heard of a god taking away a demigod's inherited abilities when they do something dishonorable, but you haven't done anything wrong. But then the abilities being replaced with those of another demigod? That's unheard of."

"Are you sure you still have it?" asked Piper. "It could've been just a onetime thing."

I held out my palm and willed the fire to spread out from my heart, travel through my arm and surface in the center. Just as I suspected, the flames still ignited, causing a sharp intake of breath from the other girls.

"You couldn't be a child of Hephaestus, could you?" asked Piper, who was still staring wide-eyed at the fire dancing in my palm.

I'll admit I had thought about the possibility, but I had decided it wasn't so. I shook my head. "No, Apollo claimed me, and he seemed pretty serious about me being his daughter when he came and spoke to me."

"That's true," Annabeth chimed in, "but it still doesn't explain what the gods are up to. You better be on your guard, Lucy. I hate to say it, but something bad could be on the horizon." Her face looked grim, and I could tell she knew exactly what she was talking about when it came to 'bad horizon.'

Piper perked up suddenly. "Speaking of being on your guard, you still don't have your weapon yet. Remember Leo said he'd make you one."

"That's right," I said and stood up. "I'll go talk to him about that now. Do you know where I could find him?"

"He wasn't at breakfast, so we asked the rest of his cabin," Annabeth said. "They said that he had gotten up early to head down to Bunker 9. He told them that he had something important to work on and that he'd be there a while."

"Okay, I'll just go and check on him then," I told them. I was anxious to see him again. That loneliness I had felt when we parted the night before had never really left. "Can you tell me where Bunker 9 is?"

"Yeah, it's not hard to find. It's a bit of a hike, but there's a path marked out. Eventually, you'll cross a stream and not far from there you'll come to a huge cliff. Press your hand to the face of it and it should open right up," Piper explained.

"Okay, thanks for everything, guys. I'll see you around, then." I threw on a t-shirt and jean shorts, grabbed my iPod and a bottled water for the walk and headed down to the forest. Just like Piper had said, there was a large trampled path not far from the log where Leo had comforted me two days ago today. The thought that that much time had already passed brought a small smile to my face. A large tree at the opening of the path had _'_Bunker 9' burned into it, so I assumed I had the right one. I took a step forward and began my trek towards Leo.

Piper had been right: it was a bit of a hike. I had made it through my bottled water and _The Black Parade _by the time I finally reached the stream. I leaped over and just as I had been told, a huge cliff face loomed up ahead. I placed my hand to the rough surface and felt it get hot. Little lines of fire spread out from the point of impact and formed the outline of a gigantic door. I backed up out of surprise and the door swung open to a slightly startled Leo at his workbench.

Leo put his hand over his heart and exhaled. "Jeez, Lucy, you nearly gave me a heart attack!" He blew a stray strand of wavy black hair out of his face and wiped his grease stained hands on a cloth before coming over to hug me. "Hey, I missed you."

I blushed a little. "I missed you too."

I took him in. Today he was wearing a Camp Half-Blood shirt under a green army jacket with jeans. He had bags under his eyes and appeared sleep deprived, but still smiled brightly at the sight of me. His wavy, black hair was ruffled and stuck out at odd angles. There was a little grease smudge on his nose, which I wiped off with my finger. "Your face is all dirty," I nagged to him.

He rolled his eyes. "Sorry I didn't clean up for the company I didn't know I'd be having," he laughed. He took my hand and dragged me to this workbench. "So I started working on your weapon last night, and I may or may not have gone a little crazy." He held up a necklace with an old skeleton key on it and slipped it over my head. "Press the third tooth," he instructed. I did what he said and the key suddenly erupted. Metal plates extended across my chest and onto my back, forming a gleaming piece of armor with the outline of a key at the center of the chest.

"Woah, that's awesome! I lo-"

Leo stuck his finger to my lips. "Please hold any and all applause until the end of the presentation," he said, grinning. I pouted, but stayed quiet.

Next, Leo pulled out a little black ring with three red jewels set in it and slipped it onto my right index finger. "I may or may not be proposing right now, but press the middle jewel in." I moved to do so but he held up his hands for me to stop. "Just let me take a step back." After he had, I pressed the jewel and realized why he had wanted to keep his distance. A three-foot-long Japanese style sword unfolded from the ring. It hovered for a moment before I reached up and snatched it out of the air.

"Wicked," I couldn't help but say.

"Glad you like it," Leo said with a chuckle. "I'll be right back; I've got to use the little mechanic's room, if you don't mind." He disappeared into the tangled maze of the workshop, leaving me there with my new gifts. I took a few swings with the sword and ended up knocking a radio off the workbench. It fell to the hard floor, sending pieces exploding into the air.

"Oops," I breathed. I knelt down and set all the parts back up on the workbench. I was just going to leave it and explain to Leo when he got back, after all it was nothing he couldn't fix, but I felt a sudden urge like the one I'd had to work with the celestial bronze in the armory. My instincts took over and I began to reassemble the broken radio. I didn't know what I was doing, or how I knew what to do, but it seemed to work. In no time I had the radio looking good as new. I dusted off my hands and turned around to see a very shocked Leo.

"Apparently pyrokinesis isn't the only unusual ability you have."

* * *

**Hello, all! Thanks again for reading! I hoped this chapter clears up that I will NOT be making them siblings like some of you have been worried about. The gods are just up to something as always. Anyway, if you have anymore questions or concerns, feel free to voice them!**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Whatever the fuck the gods were doing, I was getting real tired of their shit. Was it too much to ask to just be a normal person? Apparently, considering here I was, a child of Apollo with the abilities of a child of Hephaestus. Couldn't I just sit quietly in my cabin and compose music instead of worrying about bursting into flames whenever I got excited or spontaneously fixing things?

Leo came over and plugged in the radio. Sure enough, it still worked. Country music blasted out of the speakers. "Huh," he remarked. "I think it may be about time to tell Chiron about this."

I agreed. Maybe I had some kind of rare demigod sickness and Chiron could cure me. Fat chance, but I clung to it. Leo shut off the lights and we walked back to camp. On the way there, he showed me how to turn my sword and armor back into jewelry. The sword still had the three red jewels of the ring and could be shrunk back by pressing all three jewels. To turn the armor back into a necklace, I simply had to press the key outlined in the center. It was genius. Leo explained how he had built them, and I actually understood it. I just didn't think I could have done it myself, but he promised he would teach me.

We found Chiron down at the archery range, pounding the center of a target with a quick procession of arrows. It may have sparked a bit of jealousy in me. When he saw us approaching, he slung his bow back over his back and trotted over. "Nice to see you up and around, Lucy," he said. "Have you gone down to the armory to get fitted for a weapon, yet?"

"Yeah, but we couldn't find one that was right, so Leo built me this." I stepped back and pressed the third tooth on my key, followed by the middle jewel on my ring. Chiron looked a little surprised.

"Fantastic, I would advise you headed down to the arena at some point to get a feel for it. Now, did you have something to tell me?"

"Yes, sir, it's about Lucy. We're a bit worried something may be happening to her," Leo said.

Chiron looked puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"She doesn't have, uh, normal abilities for a child of Apollo," Leo explained. He gave me a nod and I ignited a small flame in my hand. "She just fixed a broken radio, too. She says she's never been able to do anything like that before," Leo said. Now Chiron looked _really _confused.

"Are you positive you're a child of Apollo?" he asked.

I nodded. "A lyre appeared above my head when I was claimed, and my dad visited me yesterday. He said that I wasn't permitted to use the abilities of a normal demigod, but that it would be for the better in the end."

"That's," he thought for a moment, "troubling. Keep your guard up, Lucy. We don't know what could be on the horizon. I'm going to talk to Mr. D about this. Maybe he'll be able to tell me something of use. For now, I suggest you train." The centaur galloped off to the Big House and we headed down to the arena. Percy and Jason were already there, hacking away at practice dummies. Leo led me to Jason.

"Hey, man, could you and Percy show Lucy a few things about fighting with a sword? I'd do it myself but I don't use one." He shrugged.

"Yeah, sure," replied Jason as he wiped his forehead. "Come on, we'll start you out on a practice dummy." He headed back to where he was before. I moved to follow him, but Leo grabbed my hand and spun me around.

There was concern in his face. "I've got to go see if the rest of the Hephaestus cabin needs help with anything. Are you going to be alright?"

"Of course. Jason and Percy are nice enough; I trust them." Uh-oh, he wasn't being possessive, was he? Regardless, it was sweet of him to worry about me. I smiled in a way that must have appeared shy, a gesture which he returned. After approximately five uncomfortable seconds of silent eye contact, he gave a little cough and straightened up.

"Alrighty then, I guess I'll be going," he said awkwardly. His had slipped out of my grip, and I watched as he threw one last fleeting glance over his shoulder before disappearing from view. Then, I shook myself out, trying to get rid of the longing, and tried to focus on sword practice. I had demigods to help. I had my mother to avenge.

I thought sword practice went pretty well. After all, I was learning from the best. Percy and Jason were extremely skilled and fought with transforming weapons like mine. Percy's was a cheap ballpoint pen, like the ones you could pay $1 for and get twelve. When he uncapped it, it grew longer into a glowing, double-edged sword. Jason's was a gold coin that, when flipped into the air, transformed into a solid gold sword with ridged grip. I demonstrated how my ring morphed into the Japanese samurai sword and the boys took a moment to admire it. Apparently, it wasn't a common kind of weapon at Camp Half-Blood; most were ancient Greek style, but I didn't think I could have wielded anything else. I guess that in my years of watching anime I picked up some things.

The sword felt light in my hands, but was heavy enough to do some serious injury to a few practice dummies. Percy and Jason started me off easy and taught me some simple stabbing and slashing. Once I had succeeded into turning three dummies back into straw bales, the boys decided I was ready for some dueling. Jason taught me thrusts, parries and blocks, and even threw in some fancy footwork with a few rolls. Then I would go up against Percy to test each new skill individually. Apparently I did pretty well, because after about an hour, they decided I was ready to try my hand up against each of them in an all out duel.

It was me versus Percy first. We stood facing each other with our swords poised, and on Jason's signal, we clashed. Time after time, our swords crossed. My strategy favored defense, but when I saw an opening, I would go full out offense, hacking and slashing until it closed back up again. It seemed to be working pretty well, considering I was holding my own against a guy who had at least four or five years of experience. The first few times I took offense seemed to surprise him, and he would struggle to hold up, but he soon figured out my strategy and it seemed I would have to change tactics. The thing is, I was running off of reason, not instinct.

I remembered what Leo had said about ADHD being a demigod's battle instincts, but since I didn't have it, he didn't know how it would affect my fighting. I discovered that I had zero instinct. My body didn't react to anything automatically. Everything I did was something I had picked up at some point in life or was well thought through. I borrowed strategies from video games, which worked surprisingly well. Every boss had a weakness; I just had to find Percy's. I formed my new battle plan when I spotted it. His movements seemed delayed, ever so slightly, but still noticeable, like lag on a video streaming.

I feigned to the right, the side he would assume I would attack on since I was right-handed. He moved to block and then I went into offense mode to the left. I was about to put the flat edge of my sword to his side when the horn sounded for dinner. He pushed my sword down with his own and gave me a high-five. "Good job. Maybe we can finish this some other time."

I nodded and we all put our weapons back into 'ordinary object form' and headed to the dinning pavilion. I _still _wasn't in the mood to deal with Kate and Kayla, but I was feeling empowered and famished from all the physical activity and figured that any problems they had with me they could tell to the sharp end of my sword. Still, I made sure not to sit next to or directly in front of them. The two of them were opposite from Will and Austin and I opted to sit next to Austin. The young boy was happily chowing down on a plate of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.

He looked at me with his cheeks filled like a chipmunk's. "Were you down at the arena?" he asked through his mouthful.

I smiled. "Yep, I just got done with my first sword fighting class."

"No way, you got a sword? I wanted one, but they said I was too young to be up close in combat. All I got was a dumb bow and a dagger." He gave his plate a pouty look like his lack of a sword was its fault. "I can't wait to get older so I can get a sword and fight the bad guys face-to-face!" He started punching at the air as if there were invisible baddies levitating over our dinner.

"Don't grow up too fast; being a kid is the best!" Poor kid didn't know that growing up was a trap.

"You're just saying that," he sulked.

The majority of what remained of the meal was eaten in silence. As I ate my hamburger and broccoli, I was aware of Kate and Kayla occasionally eyeing me suspiciously like they expected me to either burst into flames or randomly jump up and start making out with Leo on the table. The first choice, I decided, was highly plausible; the second was probably just as likely.

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**Oh gods, I am so sorry about the delay in posting this chapter. It's such a busy week for me. I've got a huge cosplay due Wednesday that still needs sewn together, a project book to finish, this story to write and three more cosplays that I need to work on with my con-buddy before the end of the month when she goes back home (out of state). She'll probably be back over Christmas break for a few days, but I'll have basketball and then she won't get back again until the day the convention starts D: Wow, that was a long after story thingy. It may be because I was dead tired so I tried some Dakota-style Kool Aid and now I'm all hyper. Okay, I'll shut up now. Bye.**

**I hope this story isn't getting too cliché.**

**Lawliet'sOneAndOnly**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I was standing in a gigantic, open room. The ceiling was high and the walls were lined with Greek columns. A fire blazed brightly in a hearth. Two dozen over-sized chairs were strewn about the room, each with an equally huge man or woman. Only one remained empty: a throne made of the bent trunk of a tree engraved with images of satyrs, wood nymphs and various wildlife.

A human girl with fiery red hair clad in old jeans and a hoodie stood confidently in the center, but appeared to be addressing the man sitting on the largest throne. He had long, stormy gray hair and a beard and wore a dark blue pinstriped suit as well as a concerned expression.

"Could you tell us what exactly you saw?" asked the man.

The girl took a deep breath. "I think I've given another Great Prophecy, but not like the normal ones. It was a vision instead of words, and it was very clear, like it was urgent. There was a boy, one of the campers. A voice told me that he would be the father of a great hero, one that the world would be doomed without, but something was wrong. He was alone, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. He didn't think there was anyone out there that could understand him. There was so much blood. He was dying, and it was by his own hands."

"Do you know who this boy was?" asked a man in a Hawaiian shirt.

The girl thought for a moment. "I can't remember much, just that he had fire in his hands."

A large, muscular man with a wild beard shifted uncomfortably in his seat, causing a metal brace on his leg to creak. "Did your vision say how we could prevent this?"

The girl nodded. "After that, the scene changed. He was not alone. There was someone with him, a girl who would one day bear his children. She possessed abilities that she shouldn't have had: fire in her veins and a brain hardwired for creating. She was a child of Apollo with a damaged soul and was without a mother. Because she was there, the boy did not die, and neither did she."

The room was silent. "Very well, Miss Dare. You may leave now," said the man in the largest throne.

"Thank you, Lord Zeus." Miss Dare bowed and left the room.

The gods were silent. Then, the man with the leg brace spoke up. "I think we all know who the boy is. Now we must find the girl." There was dread set in his lined face.

My dream was fading now, but just before it cut to black, my dad winked at me from his throne.

**Leo**

Leo lay on the roof of the Hephaestus cabin. He was taking in the stars, picking out constellations and planets from the scattered array of flickering lights. He wished Festus was there, or Lucy. It was a bit lonely when one couldn't sleep at night, but Leo was no stranger to loneliness. His life had been filled with nothing but it. Everyone around him had someone to love them, but Leo had no one. His mother was dead, and he hardly ever got to see his dad. He knew that his friends cared about him, but it wasn't the same. He would much rather spend time in Bunker 9 building something or watching his favorite movies and TV shows that he had secretly downloaded from the Big House's computer than be a bother to all his paired off friends.

Fireflies rose from the ground and blinked their neon yellow lights in the night. One made its way to the roof and Leo raised his finger to meet it. It crawled about on his hand with its little tickly legs before it found its way back to his fingertip and flew off again into the dark. Leo sighed. He was alone, and alone protected him. When he was alone there was no one to judge him, no one to please and no one to listen to. He could be himself. There was only one person he could feel like that around: Lucy.

Speak of the devil, he saw her light flick on in the Apollo cabin. He rolled over and saw she was taking deep breaths and tugging on the collar of her shirt like she was hot. Then she opened her window and closed her eyes at the relief of the cool breeze. Gods, she was beautiful. Her long black hair was set in a loose bun high on her head. Her intense amber eyes opened again and looked in his direction. He waved to her and jumped down from the roof to go talk to her. She looked troubled. As they talked, she pierced him with deep concern in her eyes. She seemed distant, but as they talked long into the night about anything and everything, their hands found each other and touched through the screen, bringing his lifeline close again.

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**Very short, I know :/ but there was quiet a bit of information in it. I hope you'll tell me what you think, and a big thank you to those that have!**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

The sun was rising through the trees, and I was still awake in my bed, lost in thought. It had been nearly two hours since Leo had yawned, wished her goodnight and went off to bed, but I couldn't seem to get back to sleep. My dream had frightened me. The girl had said Leo would die by his own hand because he felt alone in every way. He couldn't be suicidal, could he? He was always so happy and sarcastic and funny. _The ones who have the biggest smiles hide the greatest pain, _I remembered. There had been a way to save him though. If there was a girl, a child of Apollo with fire in her veins and a mind hardwired to create. She was the one who would bear his children, one of which the world would be doomed without. If Leo was dead, that child couldn't be born. He wouldn't die though, because the girl that would save him was here, and I knew it was me.

That was why I had been given these strange powers: I had to keep Leo from taking his own life. The way the girl had said 'the boy did not die, and neither did she' made me think: _was Leo here to save me too? _I found the idea plausible. After all, I was never alone with Leo around. He could cheer me up and make me feel butterflies in my stomach. Speaking of butterflies, the number of them fluttering around in me when Leo had come to talk was unbelievable. I had a hunch it was the 'she will bear his children' part. I was nowhere near ready to have a child. Of course, it could mean years from now, or it could mean next year, but I wasn't sure if I would ever be ready. In short, it wasn't very comfortable knowing that your supposed 'just friend' was going to get you pregnant.

I decided to take an early shower since I hadn't gotten one the night before. Plus, there was nothing like hot water to clear your mind. I grabbed my clothes for the day and headed down to the camp shower house for a bit more privacy than the cabin bathroom could offer. I found that no one was down there. The showers were surprisingly clean, and I chose the one farthest from the door. I turned the water on hot and stepped in.

The water felt like a rush of clarity. Seriously, I swear I could have been a child of Poseidon the way it opened up my eyes. I hung my head down and watched the water run down over my body. It wasn't much, so I didn't see how I could ever end up with anyone, let alone someone as fantastic as Leo. My last few ribs shown through my skin and you could see my spine when I bent over. It wasn't because I didn't eat. No, it was just because I didn't have a very large appetite, and I guess a fast metabolism helped too. Thin, ghostly scars decorated the surface of my thighs, stomach and wrists. My skin was red and blotchy. I hated my body. I looked weak and ugly.

My hands drifted down to my stomach. It was hard to believe that one day it would hold a child. I treasured the thought of cradling a little baby in my arms. I imagined it with Leo's curly black hair and his elfish features; maybe it'd have my eyes. I realized Leo didn't know about any of this, and the fact made me feel a little odd. I decided not to tell him. As I was beginning to learn, knowing the future ahead of time was not always comfortable. I would just let things happen and push the idea from my mind. Whatever the Fates had planned, I would let it take its course. I may not have been important in my old life, but I was now. My job was to make sure Leo didn't feel the need to end his life ever again, and I was up to the task.

The water was getting cold now, so I shut it off and dabbed at my myself with my towel. I put on my clothes and walked out into the light. Campers were just coming from their cabins. I saw Will and Austin shooting baskets. Kate and Kayla headed down to the lake. Jason, Piper, Percy and Annabeth walked down to the arena for early practice. I assumed Leo was still asleep. There was a crisp breeze coming off the ocean. In the distance, sailboats drifted by, unaware of the world of magic that lay on the shore. It was peaceful. I decided to take a walk.

I arrived in the empty cabin and dropped off my pajamas. I would need to wash my clothes soon. There was a washer and dryer in the bathroom, so I could take my laundry down there tonight. Feeling so refreshed made me notice something I hadn't before: there were other beds in the cabin, but no one slept in them. There were still suitcases and belongings on their desks and at the ends of their beds, but no one ever slept in them. Percy had mentioned a war at sword practice yesterday. The empty beds must have belonged to the campers that had died. I let it sink in. Kids my age with entire lives ahead of them had died in combat. That wasn't the way to go. I sent a silent prayer to the gods that their souls would rest easy in the underworld, and then I walked out the door.

I thought about my dead half-siblings as I walked around the edge of the woods towards the beach. I also thought about my future with Leo. Both thoughts confused and frightened me. I didn't want to think about it anymore, but my mind wouldn't let me forget them, so I sat on the beach and gazed out at the waves. I thought about how much my mom loved the ocean. I prayed to Hades to get her a good spot in the afterlife. I hoped he heard.

This was such a small, beautiful place in a big, scary world, and I was a part of it. It may have been only a small part, but it was important. Everyone here was. I belonged here, despite the hardships, this was my home. I may not have fit in, but I was happy. I was at peace. Just when I thought the moment couldn't get any more perfect, Leo came and sat next to me in the sand. He rested his hand on mine and we sat in silence and watched the time go by.

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**Whew, I actually posted two chapters today! Sorry about the short chapter earlier, the power was out so I didn't have much battery left .-. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. I'm sad to say there won't be many more :( Don't worry though, I think I may write a sequel with Leo and Lucy's world-saving child!**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It's amazing how time flies when your life's at a high point. It was the end of August. Many of the campers had gone home to attend school in the mortal world, but I had no one to go home to. I along with Leo, Jason, Piper, Austin and a few other campers would be staying. Annabeth continued to visit every few days to keep Chiron and Mr. D updated on the movements of various monsters. My mornings were spent in Bunker 9, afternoons in the arena and evenings keeping up on my studies. I was almost always in the company of Leo. I guess we were considered 'official' now. There had never been a moment when one of us had said, "Will you go out with me?" It had just happened, and everybody accepted it .Occasionally, we would go for a picnic or take a walk, but most of the time, we just hung out: it was all we needed to be happy.

I was cutting less too. It was becoming a crutch I no longer needed. Sometimes things would happen, and I'd give in, but it was never to the degree it had been before. My life was heading up, but my dream was still nagging me from the back of my mind. I still hadn't told anyone, and didn't plan on doing so, but I couldn't forget what lay ahead in the future. I was committed to keeping an eye on Leo. Nothing would hurt him as long as I could help it. I couldn't lie though: sometimes I felt powerless, and he had to be the one to watch over me. In that way, we looked out for each other, and we were happy.

The night it happened was a Saturday. It had been a long, hot day and I was relieved to crawl into bed that night. I was nearly asleep when there was a knock on my window. I groaned, but opened my eyes to see Leo grinning at me through the screen. "Ugh, what is it?" I asked.

"I've got something to show you; come out here," he said.

I yawned, "Okay, fine, but you've got to get away from the window. I'm not dressed." It probably hadn't been the best night to sleep in a bra and underwear.

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is that so? Mind if I come in?"

"Shut up. You're lucky there's a screen there, or I would have slapped you," I muttered.

He raised his hands in defeat. "Alright, I was just messing around. I'll be at the door then." He rounded the corner and disappeared from sight, but I wrapped myself in my sheet as I crawled down, just in case. It was more the fact that I chose to wear my ugly undergarments than I minded him seeing me. I changed into some more becoming delicates and pulled on a tank top, shorts and flip flops. My hair was a mess, but I didn't care. I checked on Austin before I left, but he was curled up tight in his sheets, fast asleep. I was careful not to make any noise when I opened the door so I wouldn't wake him. Leo was already waiting outside with a backpack.

"What's with the backpack?" I asked.

"I wanted to show you something down on the beach. I figured we could have a picnic while we were down there," he said with a shrug.

I smiled. It had always been a fantasy of mine to have a late night picnic on the beach. "Okay, sounds fun." I allowed him to take my hand and we walked down to the water. I immediately saw what it was he wanted to show me. The moon was hanging low over the horizon, huge and glowing. Dolphins and hippocampi splashed about in the moonbeams. Overhead in the cloudless sky, shooting stars zipped by. It was the perfect night.

I helped Leo to lay out an old sheet in the sand and we kicked off our shoes and I leaned my head on his shoulder while we listened to the splashing of the sea creatures in the bay. After some time, my stomach growled, causing us both to laugh, so Leo pulled a package of marshmallows out of his backpack. Getting the fire started was easy: we just had to gather some driftwood, touch it and_ bam! _We have fire! For once, pyrokinesis came in handy. (Did I forget to mention the time I had a really good dream and set my sheets on fire from excitement?) It had been forever since I had eaten a marshmallow. I usually skipped out on the evening campfires, and when I did go, I just ate candy bars in the back row. Leo thought it was funny to stuff a flaming one in my mouth, which didn't hurt me of course, but it did start a flaming marshmallow war that ended with Leo pinning me down by the shoulders.

"Hey! Let me go!" I demanded and tried to squirm away.

"No way! You'll just start throwing marshmallows again," he said grinning down at me.

I managed to wiggle halfway out from under him, leaving his hands down near my waist. I blew in his face. "So?" I pouted.

He laughed. "You're so cute when you get pouty."

"I am not," I continued to sulk.

"Aw, cheer up now! I know what will make you happy! Let's go swimming!" he had a boyish look on his face that I just couldn't resist.

"Okay, but I don't have a swimsuit." I certainly wouldn't be skinny dipping, if that's what he meant. What if someone were to walk out and see? What if Percy could sense if there was whoo-hoo going on in his ocean?

"Just go in your clothes. What you've got on is fine." He proceeded to stand up, pull his t-shirt off and throw it aside. "C'mon, hurry up!" He took my hand to help me up and we waded into the freezing current together. Once we were waist deep, I broke free and dove into the water. I popped up five feet away and looked back at Leo. He was still slowly easing himself into the water.

"Come on! It was your idea to swim in the first place!" I complained.

"Yeah, I know, but me and cold water don't mix, ya know. I'm basically humanoid flames."

"I got used to it fast."

"Well you're a," he struggled for a proper insult, "meanie," he decided on.

"Oh, I am, am I?"

"Yeah, that's right." He finally slipped all the way into the water and swam out towards me. The water was chest-deep, but we stood and held tight to each other.

There was an emotion inside me I had never felt before, but somehow knew what it was. It was hard to say, but I knew that it was the right time. I looked him in the eyes. "Leo, I love you."

He blinked in surprise for a moment, but a big smile split his face. "I love you too, Lucy. I always have."

Our lips met for what must have been the hundredth time, but this was different. There was more passion, more lust, more love than ever before. Leo pressed heavily into the small of my back. I ran my fingers through his curly, black locks and the kiss grew deeper. Leo pulled away, breathing heavy. "There're towels back at the bunker," he said through pants.

I nodded but stayed silent. I was still completely breathless. We gathered our things and walked through the woods to the bunker, using the light from our hands to guide us. We arrived and dried off in silence. Leo plugged his iPod into his speakers and leaned awkwardly back on the workbench. "So," he said.

Whatever he was going to say, I stopped it with another kiss. I just couldn't get enough of the feel from back in the water. I felt so empowered, sexy even. Leo slipped his hand up the back of my shirt and I could already tell what would be happening next.

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**Oo-la-la(; hmmm, hopefully you know what'll be happening, so that means I'll have to change the rating to M for the next chapter. Just a forewarning. Anyway, thank you those of you that are still reading! I appreciate your support and feedback!**


	16. Chapter 16

**The story has officially changed to M. You've been warned, even though I suck at writing this stuff.**

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Chapter 16

Everything I felt was a blur, a wild rush. Before I could do anything else, we went from leaning against the workbench to flat out laying on it. Leo was pinned under me with his hands following the curves of my waist and I had mine on his bare chest. Occasionally, a soft moan would escape one of us. When I couldn't go without a proper breath any longer, I rested my forehead on his and we had a silent conversation with our eyes: _You, me, bed, now._

Leo scooped me up and we resumed kissing. He wound his way through the tangled mess of machinery like he knew it like the back of his hand; he must've, because I had no idea how he was seeing. That half-hearted idea he had thrown at Jason all those weeks ago in the chariot to move his bed down here apparently hadn't been so half-hearted. Just last week we had snuck an old bed out of the camp's storage, cleaned it up and moved it into a spare room here ourselves. At the time, it had never crossed my mind the possibilities of that bed.

The room was small, but it had enough room for the bed and the perfect amount of floor space for a couple of discarded garments. My tank top had been lost somewhere back in the workshop and revealed my still damp bra. At this moment, I couldn't have been more relieved that I had changed undergarments. The only bra I had that was clean at the time was my light pink one covered in black lace, one of the prettiest ones I owned. It happened that that particular bra came with matching undies that I had thrown on just for kicks, but that may have been taken too literally when they were kicked across the room.

At this point, we were both completely naked, and Leo laid me down and placed kisses down my neck. Fuck, I couldn't help it: small tongues of flames ignited around me. There was a sound from Leo that I was pretty sure was a chuckle, but I couldn't hear very well over the sound of the blood rushing in my ears, so I could be wrong. Basically, if I had to describe it, it was literally the hottest sex ever.

Ten minutes or so later, I had lost track of time, we were lying on our sides facing each other. Leo was absentmindedly playing with a lock of my black hair. I was curled up with my knees against my chest and nervously fiddled with my fingers.

"What are you thinking about, Lucy?"

The sound of his voice startled me out of my daydream. I refocused my vision. "Oh, you know, just this."

"You don't feel guilty about it, do you?" He looked worried.

"Just a little, but it was bound to happen eventually." Leo pursed his lips and opened his mouth to say something, but I beat him to it. "I have something to tell you," I confessed.

"Oh gods." He looked scared. Shit, he probably thought I was breaking things off or something.

"Don't worry," I assured him. "It's a good thing, I think." I proceeded to tell him about my dream.

For a moment, he was silent; then he pulled his arm out from under the sheets and held it out to me. "I guess I should show you this since you've probably already assumed." He was right: I had assumed, but that didn't mean that it shocked me any less. Thin white scars snaked across his wrist and well up on to his forearm. They were older scars, but the cuts must have been deep, because the contrast between the scar tissue and his tan skin was frightening. He must have read the worried expression on my face because he planted a small kiss on my forehead. "Don't worry," he reassured, "your dream was right: a special girl did come around and save my life. I haven't cut since just before you arrived at camp." The whole thing looked like a painful subject for him to talk about, but he pushed through it. It was so hard for him to talk about, I felt in debt to him, so I decided to return the favor.

I didn't say anything as I lifted my wrist into view. He took it between his hands and delicately smoothed over my scars with a gentle finger. "Oh, I knew about it, but I didn't say anything to you. I know how uncomfortable it can be for someone to mention it." He gave a sad little smile. "I kept a close eye on you though. I wanted to stay with you and make sure you were happy. I just want you to promise me that you'll never do it again though, okay?" He kissed my wrist and laid it gently back between the sheets.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes, and I couldn't help but let them spill over. I nuzzled up to Leo's chest and let the tears flow freely. "I promise," I whispered. We laid together for what felt like only a moment but must've been ages before I yawned and rolled over. "I'm going to try to go to sleep, okay? Could you wake me up about an hour before morning call so I can get back before anyone sees?"

"Sure. Sleep tight, Lucy, my little fire girl."

I fell asleep to the sound of Leo's breathing and 'She Makes Dirty Words Sound Pretty' playing on the speakers out in the workshop.

I woke up on my own around 6:15, according to the bedside alarm clock. I was sore all over and my head was pounding, but otherwise, I felt the same. I had always thought the morning after would be stressful, that I would feel like a completely new person, but evidentially not. I felt behind me with my arm, but Leo wasn't there. His half of the sheets was pulled back and his clothes were picked up off the floor, so I assumed he was already up and about. I found my pants, underwear and bra, but my shirt was still out in the workshop. I definitely did not feel like dressing yet; I was too stiff, so I just threw on an oversized shirt of Leo's I found on the floor with 'Memphis May Fire' sprawled across the chest.

I dragged my feet out into the workshop with my clothes thrown over my shoulder. Leo was slaving away over some little device with only a pair of jeans on. Gods, he was hot. I normally didn't think like that, but I couldn't help it. No way I could've just lost my innocence to him? Apparently, I hadn't been dreaming, because his saw me walking in and threw me a knowing smile. "How you feeling?" he asked.

"Like crap. Do you have any pain killer?"

"Umm, yeah, just a second." He pulled a little bottle down from a shelf and poured out a pill that he then handed to me. I popped it then looked over his shoulder to see what he was making. "You weren't really supposed to see yet, but I guess you should probably get going soon, so you can have it now. I'm sure you could make any adjustments that would be needed." He handed me what looked like a cheap mp3. "I transferred some songs to it I thought you would like," he said a little shyly.

"Aw, that's so sweet!" I gave him a quick hug then grabbed my bag off the ground. "I should get dressed now."

Leo nodded in agreement. "About that, I found your shirt, but it kind of fell into a puddle of oil. I'll work on getting it clean if you just want to have that shirt." He gestured at the baggy shirt I was wearing.

I waved it off. "Just throw it out; it was old anyway."

Leo shrugged. "I'll try anyways." He looked at his watch. "You've got about an hour until morning call. You better get going so you have time to walk back."

"Shit, that's right." I rushed back into Leo's room, threw on my shorts and pulled my hair back in a ponytail. Leo was waiting to send me off at the door with my bag. I slung it over my shoulder and gave him a peck on the lips. "I love you," I whispered.

"I love you too."

I hesitated for a moment. What if I just stayed here? What if Leo and I ran away and started a new life right now? _No, _I voice in my head said; _there are other demigods out there for you to protect. You must live for others, not yourself._ With that in mind, I pushed open the door and walked out into the new day. As I walked, I turned on the mp3 from Leo. 'Hollywood Undead-We Are' flashed across the tiny screen. It wasn't the type of music I normally listened to, but the song was good. It reminded me of Leo and I, the mechanic couple. It was really quiet fitting.

_We are, we are, we are made from broken parts._

_We are, we are, we are broken from the start._

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**Yeah, I'm beyond too tired and upset to do an edit, so here, have a chapter and I'll edit it in the morning or something. I'm just feeling really crappy lately, so sorry about the lack of updates, I hope you'll forgive me.**

**I had someone ask about how to make Dakota's Kool-Aid: basically, I just take some regular tropical punch drink and poor a butt load of sugar in it. It's actually really good if you like sugar and being hyper.**

**Ok, I'm about to pass out, so bye, and sorry.**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

The first thing I thought when I emerged from the forest was that I should shower. After last night, I definitely needed the time to think. There was a small voice in the back of my head that kept nagging at me and making me feel guilty. I didn't think of any reason I should feel that way though; after all, virginity was just a concept created by a man who thought his penis was important enough to change a person, in my opinion. Still, I cringed a bit when I thought about what I had willingly done. Maybe it was because I knew my mother wouldn't approve; she'd frown and tell me that I was too young, that I was still her little girl, but something told me that she would hug me, regardless and insist on meeting Leo. She would like him, I decided, though she would probably threaten to run him over with her minivan if he ever did anything to hurt me.

I went to drop off my bag and get some shower supplies in the cabin. Austin was still fast asleep. His sheets were lying on the floor, so he must have kicked them off in his sleep. In about an hour, he'd wake up and get dressed. He would probably wonder where I was, but figure I was already down at breakfast and walk happily there to meet me, not a worry in the world. I would give anything to be young and innocent again, but while I may still be young, my innocence was long gone now I thought ruefully.

I couldn't wait to feel the hot water rush over me.

The plumbing in the cabin wasn't working (I could sense that a pipe had burst, but I hadn't gotten around to fixing it yet), so once again, I hiked down to the camp showers. Just like last time, there was only one other person down there, but this time on the girl's side. As I walked in, the water stopped and there was the sound of rustling cloth. I turned on the water to let it heat up and situated my things. Just as I was about to step in to take off my clothes, the curtains of the occupied stall slid open and Annabeth stepped out in a simple t-shirt and shorts with her wavy blonde hair still dripping. She noticed me standing there and smiled. "Hey, Lucy! It seems like forever since I've seen you."

"I know. Camp's getting boring when I have no one but boys to talk to all the time. When did you get here?"

"Oh, about 3 this morning. Dad had to work late, but I wanted to be here before Monday, so he agreed to fly me out here."

"I see." A thought was forming in my head. It may not have been the best idea, but I felt I needed to do it. "Could I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Could we maybe sit down or something?"

I shut off the water in my stall and we sat down on one of the benches that lined the back wall. Annabeth looked at me encouragingly. "Oh gods, I'm not sure how to say this…." I went on to tell her about the previous night. I spared her from the dirty little details, but I made sure she got the gist of it. When I was done, she threw her head back and laughed.

"Sorry," she said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. "It reminds me so much of me and Percy."

"What do you mean?" Oh gods, she wasn't going to make fun of me, was she?

She got a guilty little smile on her face. "Oh, nothing. It's just I may have stayed with Percy's family for New Year's last year and one thing may have lead to another."

Wow, I definitely hadn't seen that coming. I looked at my feet. "Did you ever feel guilty about any of it?"

"Of course I did." She put a hand on my shoulder. "It's only natural. There are a lot of risks in doing these kinds of things, but we took precautions to avoid them and figured that we both loved each other enough to accept those risks if they came to pass."

She did have a point. Leo and I had used protection and I felt that we did love each other a lot. We were bound to end up together anyway according to the prophecy of the Oracle. "I guess you're right. Thanks for listening."

"No problem." She stood up. "Just let me know if there's anything else you need."

I nodded. Gods, I was lucky to have a friend like her to talk to. "I guess I'll see you at breakfast then."

"Yep, unless you went and lay down for a bit, you look like you could use some sleep." She looked a little concerned.

Apparently I looked as tired as I felt. "That actually sounds good. I'll just grab something to eat out of my fridge and sleep in for a little longer. Could you have someone come wake me for lunch?"

"Of course. I'd better get going though. Percy told me he wanted to see me as soon as I got here," she said as she shouldered her bag.

"Oh, is that right." I waggled my eyebrows. "Use protection."

The older girl stuck out her tongue. "I should say the same to you."

We laughed and Annabeth rounded the bend and disappeared from sight. I sighed. "I guess that leaves me alone with my thoughts again," I said quietly to myself.

As always, the heated water was a touch of clarity to me. I couldn't help but think if this is what Percy felt like whenever he was around water. That made my train of thought continue: Percy, Annabeth, New Year's, hookup, Leo, me, last night.

Talking to Annabeth had made me feel a little better. I didn't feel as guilty anymore, but I was beginning to feel a bit different. Not like a different person or anything, gods no; it was more of a state of being. I felt exposed and vulnerable. Someone had seen me, _all of me. _I knew I shouldn't have felt self conscious, after all, it was Leo, and he loved me, didn't he? _Of course he does, _I thought. He had said the words and I knew he meant it; I know I did.

It was decided then: Leo and I loved each other, and I already knew that we would spend the rest of our lives together, so why be embarrassed?

With my new mindset, I got dressed for the day, even though I would be going back to bed. I figured it would save me a step. I glanced in the mirror before I stepped out the door, and I really did look tired. My eyes were bloodshot and had dark circles under them, not to mention the two bruise-like marks that decorated my neck and collarbone. Shit, I'd have to hide that. Still, there was a smile on my face and pep in my step. It was going to be a good day, I could feel it.

In case you were wondering, no I didn't get pregnant, not that time. No, it wasn't until many years later, but as I napped, I dreamed about those years into the future.

I dreamed about Camp Half-Blood, about how I belonged here. This was my home; it had always been my home, I just hadn't realized it until a couple of months ago. Sure, there were some mean people, but that was life. I was beginning to learn that demigod friends were true friends, and I pictured living the rest of my teen years here. There would be rough times, that's for sure, but we would pull through. When we were old enough, Leo and I would leave here and get married. Maybe we could live in New York, so we would always be close to camp if there was trouble. We could start a family. Then a voice spoke in the back of my mind: _Do not forget the child will save the world or doom it._

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**There you have it! I'm so sad the story's over, but I'm really excited to start the sequel! I really hope you've enjoyed it!**

**Edit: The sequel is now up! Read 'All Things Come With Time' here: s/9509322/1/All-Things-Come-With-Time**


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